What Are Animal Models of Cancer
The complexity of the many diseases that we call cancers and the urgent need for improved patient outcomes provide the impetus to employ animal models of cancer. Medical researchers use animals for a variety of reasons. Primarily they are comparative living systems that allow researchers to discover the underlying basis of how and why cancers arise, why primary tumors metastasize, and how various kinds of preventive interventions and treatments can be used to stop the progression of cancer, or the growth and spread of tumors, and prolong patient lives.