In vivo models for early development of colorectal liver metastasis

In Europe, colorectal cancer is the second most prevalent form of cancer diagnosed. Globally each year, almost one million cases of colorectal cancer are registered and almost half a million deaths are attributed to this disease. This high mortality is associated with the development of liver metastases. For oncological advances to occur, accurate in vivo models are required to study colorectal cancer metastasis development. These models, by increasing our understanding of the early stages of colorectal liver establishment, will facilitate the development of novel therapeutic interventions and allow the clinical effects of these interventions to be studied. By analysis of current in vivo models for early development of colorectal liver metastasis, this review examines available methods of the tumour cell preparation, introduction and monitoring in vivo. An insight into the technical problems which can occur will be discussed. The implications of these different techniques on the resulting metastasis picture will be analysed. Existing in vivo models are assessed regarding the accuracy of the metastatic picture they portray.