History of mouse cancer models

This chapter will review the discovery, development, and application of human tumor xenograft mouse models in cancer research, with a focus on the history of murine tumor models used by the National Cancer Institute for drug screening. We briefly review the most commonly used immunodeficient mouse models and address some of the innovations in the use of xenografts that have fueled the continual quest for more clinically relevant and predictive models. Finally, we will discuss future directions of murine models in cancer research.