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Murine models of colorectal cancer

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Abstract

Colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers of humans. To experimentally investigate this common disease, numerous murine models have been established. These models accurately recapitulate the molecular and pathologic characteristics of human colorectal cancers, including activation of the myelocytomatosis oncogene (MYC), which has recently been suggested to be a key mediator of colorectal cancer development. This review focuses on the variety of murine models of human colorectal cancer that are available to the research community and on their use to identify common and distinct characteristics of colorectal cancer.

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Acknowledgments

Preparation of this review was supported in part by grants from the National Cancer Institute including the Mouse Models of Human Cancer Consortium and Specialized Program of Research Excellence in GI Cancer to DWT (U01CA105417, P50CA 106991, and R01CA092479). The intellectual environment provided by the Lineberger Cancer Center (P30CA016086) and the Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease (P30DK34987) was essential.

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Correspondence to David W. Threadgill.

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Uronis, J.M., Threadgill, D.W. Murine models of colorectal cancer. Mamm Genome 20, 261–268 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00335-009-9186-5

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