Technology Creates Mice With Skin Cancer

U.S. scientists have created a protocol that generates research mice with squamous cell carcinoma, one of the most common types of skin cancer.

Although skin cancer is the most prevalent form of human cancer in the United States, researchers must use organisms, such as mice, to study the disease in the laboratory.

The protocol developed by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory involves injecting mice with a drug called DMBA, which mutates and activates a tumor-promoting gene. A second drug, called TPA, encourages the proliferation of cells that carry the mutated gene. The resulting mass of cells is a tumor.

The protocol was developed by Dr. Michael Girardi and colleagues at the Yale University School of Medicine. Girardi’s team has used the procedure to examine the role of the immune system in susceptibility to squamous cell carcinoma.

Researchers said the protocol can also be used to test other physiological and environmental factors that may influence the growth and progression of skin cancer in mice, ultimately helping scientists better understand and control the disease in humans.

The protocol is available at http://www.cshprotocols.org/cgi/content/full/2007/18/pdb.prot4837.