In Vivo Models for Prostate Cancer Research

Simple Summary This review explores in vivo models of prostate cancer currently published in the literature, with the focus on the prostate cancer mouse models that have recently been proposed. The information that researchers currently have about such models is critical for the information that they hope to obtain from future studies. Therefore, it is important that the various models currently published in the literature are systematically brought together. With the benefits and drawbacks of various types of prostate cancer models provided in this review, combined with their relationships to different signaling pathways and stages of tumor progression, the researcher may tackle the question of which model or gene of interest associated with the development of prostate cancer bests suits their future studies. In 2022, prostate cancer (PCa) is estimated to be the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in the United States-almost 270,000 American men are estimated to be diagnosed with PCa in 2022. This review compares and contrasts in vivo models of PCa with regards to the altered genes, signaling pathways, and stages of tumor progression associated with each model. The main type of model included in this review are genetically engineered mouse models, which include conditional and constitutive knockout model. 2D cell lines, 3D organoids and spheroids, xenografts and allografts, and patient derived models are also included. The major applications, advantages and disadvantages, and ease of use and cost are unique to each type of model, but they all make it easier to translate the tumor progression that is seen in the mouse prostate to the human prostate. Although both human and mouse prostates are androgen-dependent, the fact that the native, genetically unaltered prostate in mice cannot give rise to carcinoma is an especially critical component of PCa models. Thanks to the similarities between the mouse and human genome, our knowledge of PCa has been expanded, and will continue to do so, through models of PCa.