Spontaneous and Induced Tumors in Germ-Free Animals: A General Review

Cancer, bacteria, and immunity relationships are much-debated topics in the last decade. Microbiome′s importance for metabolic and immunologic modulation of the organism adaptation and responses has become progressively evident, and models to study these relationships, especially about carcinogenesi...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rajbardhan Mishra, Lenka Rajsiglová, Pavol Lukáč, Paolo Tenti, Peter Šima, Fabián Čaja, Luca Vannucci
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
Series:Medicina
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/57/3/260
Description
Summary:Cancer, bacteria, and immunity relationships are much-debated topics in the last decade. Microbiome′s importance for metabolic and immunologic modulation of the organism adaptation and responses has become progressively evident, and models to study these relationships, especially about carcinogenesis, have acquired primary importance. The availability of germ-free (GF) animals, i.e., animals born and maintained under completely sterile conditions avoiding the microbiome development offers a unique tool to investigate the role that bacteria can have in carcinogenesis and tumor development. The comparison between GF animals with the conventional (CV) counterpart with microbiome can help to evidence conditions and mechanisms directly involving bacterial activities in the modulation of carcinogenesis processes. Here, we review the literature about spontaneous cancer and cancer modeling in GF animals since the early studies, trying to offer a practical overview on the argument.
ISSN:1010-660X
1648-9144