EURL ECVAM Review of non-animal models in biomedical research - Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the European Union and worldwide. Preclinical breast cancer research currently relies on animal models, mostly rodents. However, animal models mimic limited aspects of human breast cancer. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has carried out an extensive review of advanced non-animal models being used for basic and applied research into breast cancer. Researchers characterised and catalogued 935 models to make them more accessible for human relevant studies that avoid the use of animals. The review has been compiled by the ALTER-N.A.M. consortium for EURL ECVAM (Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Health, Consumers and Reference Materials, Chemicals Safety and Alternative Methods Unit; contract number:JRC/IPR/2018/F.3/0035/OC)