What is the importance of animals to breast cancer research?
Animals have played, and continue to play, important roles in breast cancer research. Rats and mice are especially useful because certain strains can develop cancer spontaneously, as well as by viral and chemical induction. With their short lifespan the results of testing can be achieved much more quickly. Using cancer-causing chemicals to induce breast cancer in rats has been a powerful model for understanding the role of estrogen and other hormones in breast cancer development. The protective role of early pregnancy, which we realized from studies among women, is mimicked in rats and the mechanism of this protection, clarified by rat experimentation, may eventually provide ways to prevent breast cancer in women. Rat breast cancer models have also proven useful in understanding the role of dietary factors in breast cancer causation. Mouse mammary cancer models, also a mainstay of breast cancer research, have been particularly instructive in understanding the genetic and endocrine base
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