Animal Models in Bladder Cancer.

A PubMed and Web of Science search was performed for relevant articles published between 1980 and 2021 using words such as: "bladder" and/or "urothelial carcinoma" and animal models. Animal models of bladder cancer can be categorized as autochthonous (spontaneous) and non-autochthonous (transplantable). The first are either chemically induced models or genetically engineered models. The transplantable models can be further subclassified as syngeneic (murine bladder cancer cells implanted into immunocompetent or transgenic mice) and xenografts (human bladder cancer cells implanted into immune-deficient mice). These models can be further divided-based on the site of the tumor-as orthotopic (tumor growth occurs within the bladder) and heterotopic (tumor growth occurs outside of the bladder).