Use of immunodeficient mice in metastasis research

One of the major clinical problems facing the western world is how to stem the tide of deaths from metastasising malignancies. Despite some progress in diagnosis and treatment, the death rate from major clinically important tumours, such as lung, breast and colon cancer, shows no signs of abating. This therapeutic failure is due to tumour metastasis, for which no treatment options are available. Effort has been made to find valid animal models in which the metastatic process can be studied, and in which putative treatments can be evaluated. This review discusses some of the approaches used in creating these models, and focuses on current work using the severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mouse.