GENETICALLY MODIFIED RAT MODELS FOR CANCER

摘要

The present invention provides a desired rat or a rat cell which contains a predefined, specific and desired alteration rendering the rat or rat cell predisposed to cancer. Specifically, the invention pertains to a genetically altered rat, or a rat cell in culture, that is defective in at least one of two alleles of a tumor-suppressor gene such as the p53 gene, the Rb gene, etc. The inactivation of at least one of these tumor suppressor alleles results in an animal with a higher susceptibility to tumor induction. In one embodiment, the genetically altered animal is a rat of this type and is able to serve as a useful model for hereditary cancers and as a test animal for carcinogen studies. The invention additionally pertains to the use of such rats or rat cells, and their progeny in research and medicine. The invention includes the embodiment of the above animal cell, wherein one of the alleles expresses a normal tumor-suppressing gene product. The invention includes the embodiment wherein the rat cell is a pluripotent cell such as an embryonic cell, embryonic stem (ES) cell, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS), or spermatagonial stem (SS) cell, and in particular, wherein the tumor-suppressing gene is a Robo 1 or p53 gene.