Induction of pancreatic neoplasia in the KRAS/TP53 Oncopig

Benefits and opportunities of the transgenic Oncopig cancer model

Cancer remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, and a paradigm shift is needed to fundamentally revisit drug development efforts. Pigs share close similarities to humans and may serve as an alternative model. Recently, a transgenic 'Oncopig' line has been generated to induce solid tumors with organ specificity, opening the potential of Oncopigs as a platform for developing novel therapeutic regimens.

Evaluation of Five Mammalian Models for Human Disease Research Using Genomic and Bioinformatic Approaches

The suitability of an animal model for use in studying human diseases relies heavily on the similarities between the two species at the genetic, epigenetic, and metabolic levels. However, there is a lack of consistent data from different animal models at each level to evaluate this suitability. With the availability of genome sequences for many mammalian species, it is now possible to compare animal models based on genomic similarities. Herein, we compare the coding sequences (CDSs) of five mammalian models, including rhesus macaque, marmoset, pig, mouse, and rat models, with human coding sequences. We identified 10,316 conserved CDSs across the five organisms and the human genome based on sequence similarity. Mapping the human-disease-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from these conserved CDSs in each species has identified species-specific associations with various human diseases. While associations with a disease such as colon cancer were prevalent in multiple model species, the rhesus macaque showed the most model-specific human disease associations. Based on the percentage of disease-associated SNP-containing genes, marmoset models are well suited to study many human ailments, including behavioral and cardiovascular diseases. This study demonstrates a genomic similarity evaluation of five animal models against human CDSs that could help investigators select a suitable animal model for studying their target disease.

First person – Pinaki Mondal and Neesha Patel

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Pinaki Mondal and Neesha Patel are co-first authors on ‘ Induction of pancreatic neoplasia in the KRAS/TP53 Oncopig’, published in DMM. Pinaki is a research scientist, and Neesha is a surgical resident, in the lab of Mark A. Carlson at University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA, investigating pancreatic adenocarcinoma and reprograming of its complex microenvironment in therapy resistance.