Table 3.

Advantages and disadvantages of different murine models used cancer research. Adapted from [166], published by The Company of Biologists, 2017.

Model	Way of Generation	Advantages	Disadvantages
Ectopic CDX Cell line-Derived Xenograft	Human tumor cells (fluorescents or not) Implanted subcutaneously	Easy, fast, and cheap Commercial cell lines or primary cell cultures Eeasily measurable	Immunodeficient host Some cancer types fail to grow Not specific tissue growing
Orthotopic CDX Cell line-Derived Xenograft	Implantation on specific tissue	Microenvironment similar to the origin of the tumor Eeasily measurable	They are more technically complex than ectopic Immunodeficient host Not all cancer types grow
Metastatic CDX	By injection of tumor cells by vein or intra-cardiac	Tumors can grow in a variety of tissues or organs	The model does not mimic the original tumor Technically demanding to detect the location of tumor
PDXPatient-Derived Xenografts	By implantation of tumor cells or fragment derived from human tumors. (ectopically or orthotopically)	Tumors generated maintain the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the original tumor derived from the patient	Requires fresh patient tumor tissue Immunodeficient host Relatively expensive Slow implementation Technically demanding
Syngeneic	Mouse tumor tissue or cells implanted on same strain mouse	Good growing tumors Microenvironment adequate Immunocompetent host	Mouse microenvironment Not useful as human model
Conventional GEMM Genetically Modified Mouse Models	Oncogenic-driven transgenic mice to develop specific cancer.	Natural microenvironment Intact immune system Modelling of early/late stages of tumor progression	Mouse microenvironment Not truly of human disease Not valuable for certain test therapies