Mouse models of human cancer as tools in drug development

Histologically accurate mouse models of human cancers generated by somatic or germline genetic modification strategies recapitulate the genetic alterations found in human tumors. In this issue of Cancer Cell, Romer et al. (2004) test a novel signaling inhibitor in a genetically defined mouse medulloblastoma and show the utility of these models in drug development. They demonstrate that targeting signaling components downstream of tumor initiating mutations can be an effective therapeutic strategy for solid tumors.