The Emerging Landscape of Mouse Bladder Cancer Models

Bladder cancer is common and urgently requires new therapies and management strategies. Mouse models are essential platforms that enable interventional studies to address important biological and clinical questions in vivo and provide critical evidence complementary to that from human studies. In this chapter, we present an overview of the current mainstream mouse platforms, then outline recent models that present novel insights into the understanding of bladder cancer and proof-of-principle for potential therapies, including the molecular analyses undertaken. Findings from recent models of Fgfr3 alterations, as well as potential targets to improve response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint immunotherapy are discussed. The new generation of mouse models and molecular understanding of them have allowed researchers to address issues that have previously been considered challenging, such as metastasis and sex differences in disease progression and treatment response. Despite technical difficulties and their resource-intensive nature, mouse in vivo platforms continue to be an invaluable tool for bladder cancer research.