Mouse models of intestinal cancer

Murine models of intestinal cancer are powerful tools to recapitulate human intestinal cancer, understand its biology and test therapies. With recent developments identifying the importance of the tumour microenvironment and the potential for immunotherapy, autochthonous genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) will remain an important part of preclinical studies for the foreseeable future. This review will provide an overview of the current mouse models of intestinal cancer, from the Apc (Min/+) mouse, which has been used for over 25 years, to the latest ‘state‐of‐the‐art’ organoid models. We discuss here how these models have been used to define fundamental processes involved in tumour initiation and the attempts to generate metastatic models, which is the ultimate cause of cancer mortality. Together these models will provide key insights to understand this complex disease and hopefully will lead to the discovery of new therapeutic strategies. © 2015 The Authors. Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.