Rat Models of Hormone Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer

Hormone receptor-positive (HR⁺) breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of breast cancer among women worldwide, accounting for 70-80% of all invasive cases. Patients with HR⁺ BC are commonly treated with endocrine therapy, but intrinsic or acquired resistance is a frequent problem, making HR⁺ BC a focal point of intense research. Despite this, the malignancy still lacks adequate in vitro and in vivo models for the study of its initiation and progression as well as response and resistance to endocrine therapy. No mouse models that fully mimic the human disease are available, however rat mammary tumor models pose a promising alternative to overcome this limitation. Compared to mice, rats are more similar to humans in terms of mammary gland architecture, ductal origin of neoplastic lesions and hormone dependency status. Moreover, rats can develop spontaneous or induced mammary tumors that resemble human HR⁺ BC. To date, six different types of rat models of HR⁺ BC have been established. These include the spontaneous, carcinogen-induced, transplantation, hormone-induced, radiation-induced and genetically engineered rat mammary tumor models. Each model has distinct advantages, disadvantages and utility for studying HR⁺ BC. This review provides a comprehensive overview of all published models to date.