An RCAS-TVA-based approach to designer mouse models [Review]

摘要

The twentieth-century reductionist approach to molecular biology dissected complex biological phenomena into distinct biochemical pathways. Today, we are challenged by these distinct biochemical pathways in an attempt to recapitulate tumor formation in complex biological settings, such as the mouse. This review describes a recently developed mouse modeling system that utilizes avian RCAS retroviruses as vehicles to deliver genes of interest into transgenic mice that express the gene encoding the avian receptor TVA in specific cell types. This system allows for precise spatio-temporal introduction of multiple defined genetic elements into selected cell types, making it an ideal system for studying the cooperating events in tumor formation as well as the roles of'gene expression in different cell lineages during development.