Pristane-induced mammary carcinomas

Animal models for studying human breast cancer carcinogenesis and testing drug candidates on human breast cancer have extensively been proposed. Especially, chemically induced breast tumor models have been used because they can mimic the progression of clinical cancer from the beginning and can be generated with a facile procedure. Pristane is a hydrocarbon oil that is used as a chemical carcinogen to induce tumorigenesis in mice as well as arthritis and lupus nephritis in rats. In only a few studies, pristane-induced breast cancer models have been reported. This chapter is designated to describe pristane-induced mammary carcinoma models. Here, we provide a protocol for generating pristane-induced breast tumors in mice models for analyzing and for testing potential therapeutics on them. The given protocol can be applied to other animal models with some changes.