Animal Models of Colorectal Cancer: From Spontaneous to Genetically Engineered Models and Their Applications

Abstract

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common gastrointestinal malignancies in humans, affecting approximately 1.8 million people worldwide. This disease has a major social impact and high treatment costs. Animal models allow us to understand and follow the colon cancer progression; thus, in vivo studies are essential to improve and discover new ways of prevention and treatment. Dietary natural products have been under investigation for better and natural prevention, envisioning to show their potential. This manuscript intends to provide the readers a review of rodent colorectal cancer models available in the literature, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages, as well as their potential in the evaluation of several drugs and natural compounds’ effects on colorectal cancer.

Inhibitory Effect of Dietary Defatted Rice Bran in an AOM/DSS-Induced Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer Experimental Animal Model

“…The AOM/DSS-induced colitis-associated CRC model is widely used in the experimental study of animals to investigate chemopreventive effects through the mimicry of human sporadic colon cancer clinical symptoms and histopathological and molecular alterations [ 38 , 39 ]. In this model, two injections of AOM and its combination with two cyclic administrations of DSS in drinking water were employed to induce chronic inflammation, dysplasia, and cancer development in the colon.…”

An Integrative Approach to Characterize the Early Phases of Dimethylhydrazine-Induced Colorectal Carcinogenesis in the Rat

“…The available animal models of CRC have been used for more than eight decades to better understand the molecular events involved and evaluate the efficacy of many treatments [ 4 ]. Despite this, most of the research in these models has been limited to histological characterization [ 5 , 6 , 7 ], few studies on oxidative stress [ 8 , 9 ] and gut microbiome analyses [ 10 ], and even fewer regarding the early phases of the tumorigenic events.…”

Cytotoxic, Genotoxic and pro-apoptotic effect of some medicinal plants on the expression of colon cancer-related genes (P53 & Bcl2) in the colorectal cell line and syngenic animal cancer model

“…The cells were injected subcutaneously in male BALB/C mice axilla, and after tumor growth, they were transplanted into the cecum. It was observed that the tested drug the growth of colon cancer and prevented inhibited hepatic metastases [60]. As mentioned earlier, numerous studies have evaluated the potential anticancer effects of individual compounds including flavonoids.…”