Table 1.

Examples of animal models of melanoma, and some of their advantages/disadvantages to explore melanomagenesis in human.

Species	Advantages	Disadvantages
Mouse	Genetic manipulation possible	Late onset
	Different genetic backgrounds available	Low incidence
	Easy breeding and handling	No spontaneous melanoma, genetic modifications needed
	Vast genetic and genomic resources	Melanocytes in dermis
	Many examples of molecular pathways dissection
Pig	Cutaneous melanoma	Major susceptibility genes identified in human are not predisposing in pigs
	Early onset of multiple tumors	Early onset and UV-independent, thus not reflecting a large part of human cases occurring in the elderly, on sun-damaged skin
	No environmental effect	Cell biology tools are limited (antibodies for example)
	Same inheritance as humans
	Common histological and clinical features with human melanoma, including metastatic invasion
	Spontaneous and complete regression
	Melanocytes on the basal layer of the epidermis
Dog	Several possible clinical types (mucosal, cutaneous, acral, uveal)	Often benign (except melanomas from the oral cavity)
	Veterinary records	Cell biology tools are limited (antibodies for example)
	Anti-cancer treatments and clinical trials	Genetic basis remains poorly described
	Shared environment with human
	Somatic mutations similar to human ones
	Breed genetic structure should facilitate association analysis
Horse	Presence of nevi and melanomas	Correspond to rare melanomas in human
	Dermal melanomas can eventually metastasize	Late metastatic evolution in gray horses
	The genetic basis of melanoma development in gray horses is partly known
	Activation of ERK pathway, as seen in human