Towards a better understanding of kidney cancer: genetically engineered mouse models and biomarkers insights

Kidney cancer has been rising steadily for over 30 years, especially in Western countries. Risk factors include lifestyle habits, comorbid conditions, genetic predispositions, and occupational or environmental exposures. There is a need for expanded research to elucidate the principal etiological determinants of this malignancy and develop new treatments. This review brings together the essential knowledge to design an experimental study on renal carcinogenesis. Thus, we review the available mouse models and relevant renal tumor markers in mice, including methods from histological and molecular analyses to in-vivo small animal imaging. Genetically engineered mouse models can closely reproduce the different types of human renal cell carcinoma, both morphologically and functionally. This work presents a selection of highly specific kidney cancer models with high translational relevance in preclinical research. Similarly, a systematic bibliographic search was performed in Scopus to select experimental studies in rodents that used biomarkers to assess kidney cancer. Finally, the third section of this review follows the same process to retrieve experimental studies in rodent that used biomarkers to assess kidney cancer and allowed the identification of over 130 different markers.