title: Clinically relevant metastatic breast cancer models to study chemosensitivity.
abstract: Metastatic disease, notably to the lungs, liver, bone, and brain, is the most common cause of death from breast cancer, despite advances in surgical and clinical management. Two basic principles govern the process of metastasis: first, that tumors are heterogeneous populations of cells; and second, that the process of metastasis is a sequence of events that depends on tumor cell properties and interactions with the microenvironment at the sites of metastasis. In theory, inhibitors targeted at any of the steps of metastasis have the potential to inhibit metastatic progression. In vitro assays cannot simulate accurately the complex process of metastasis, and the use of appropriate animal models is necessary to model the process, and for testing the impact of targeted inhibitors on the growth and development of breast cancer metastasis. Animal models of the growth and metastasis of rodent and human breast cancer cells have been developed, including models that target the metastatic growth in key organs sites such as the bone and brain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Biology, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, USA.
authors.forename: Lee Su
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Janet E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Price
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation