Animal models of pancreatic cancer and their application in clinical research

Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest cancer-related mortality rates of all cancers, and despite worldwide efforts to identify new curative treatments, little improvement has been made toward disease-free survival rates. Due to the effect of a heterogeneous disease phenotype in an organ where desmoplastic effects modify tumor behavior and capacity to deliver chemotherapeutics, it is clear that accurate in vivo models are imperative for the understanding of this disease, to identify and test novel therapeutics, and to assist in identifying biomarkers. This review addresses the currently available mouse models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, in particular genetically engineered and patient-derived xenograft models, focusing on their utility in the drug discovery pipeline.