Table 4.
Method and specification | Time to HCC short (+) to long (+++) | Technical efforts low (+) to high (+++) | Major “Pros” (+) vs “Contras” (-) |
Chemotoxic agents linked models | |||
Diethylnitrosamine | ++ | + | (+) good combination options with other methods |
9,10-dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene | (-) time to HCC not easily predictable | ||
Direct implantation of tumor cells or tissue | |||
Heterotopic/orthotopic | + | +/++ | (+) heterotopic xenografts are often and easily done |
(+) syngeneic orthotopic models better reflect the natural liver microenvironment | |||
Syngeneic/xenografts | (-) xenografts need immunocompromised mice | ||
(-) orthotopic tumor implants need surgical and imaging experience | |||
Genetically engineered mouse models | |||
Mouse embryo manipulation | ++/+++ | +++ | (+) hepatocarcinogenesis can be analyzed stepwise |
Cre-Lox recombination | (-) effects of manipulated gene(s) could have heterogeneous latency and genetic penetrance | ||
Hydrodynamic injection | |||
CRISPR-Cas9 | |||
Humanized mouse models | |||
Immunologically humanized mice | +++ | +++ | (+) immunotherapeutical issues can be studied based on human cell lines in mice |
Genetically humanized mice | (-) establishment difficult due to engraftment failure and development of stable stem cell-derived hepatocytes |
HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.