Mouse models of lung squamous cell carcinomas

Although many mouse models of lung adenocarcinoma exist, only a few mouse lung squamous cell carcinoma models have been developed. Since most clinical chemoprevention trials of lung cancer are performed in subjects with bronchial dysplasia, development of a lung squamous cell carcinoma mouse model sufficient for chemoprevention studies is a high priority. We have shown that lung squamous cell carcinomas can be induced chemically in several strains of mice (1), and that this chemically induced lung squamous cell carcinoma model is applicable to cancer chemoprevention studies. Recently, Ji et al. (2) have shown that simultaneous activation of KrasG12D and inactivation of Lkb1 results in a broader histological range of lung tumors, with approximately 50 % of the lung tumors being squamous cell carcinomas. Here, we review the application of mouse lung squamous cell carcinoma models with different stages of squamous lesions and squamous cell carcinomas to cancer development and chemoprevention studies.