| abstract |
The present invention is based, at least in part, on the creation of an animal model of pancreatic adenocarcinoma that develops and repeats the genetic and histological characteristics of human pancreatic adenocarcinoma, including disease initiation, maintenance, and progression. Thus, the present invention provides an animal model of cancer, eg, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, in which Kras activating mutations have been introduced and any one or more unknown or known tumor suppressor genes or loci, eg, Ink4a / Arf, Ink4a, Arf, p53, Smad4 / Dpc, Lkb1, Brca2, or Mlh1 are misexpressed, eg, misexpressed leading to decreased expression or non-expression. The animal model of the present invention can be used, for example, to identify pancreatic cancer biomarkers, to identify agents for the treatment or prevention of pancreatic cancer, and to evaluate the effectiveness of potential therapeutic agents. |