Modeling Gliomas Using PDGF-Expressing Retroviruses

Despite decades of research, very modest advancements have been made in terms of improving outcomes in patients with gliomas. This highlights the need for preclinical animal models that more closely recapitulate the histopathology, molecular and cellular biology, and genetic heterogeneity of the human disease. Retroviral glioma models, particularly those driven by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), combine several of the desirable features of other model systems (i.e., xenografts and transgenic mice) yet avoid their limitations. They have proven to be powerful tools to address questions regarding cell of origin, genetic lesions necessary for tumor formation, tumor cell interactions with the brain’s microenvironment, and testing of experimental therapeutic modalities. In this chapter, we compare and contrast the existing PDGF retrovirus models with other systems and discuss what lessons and insights these models have provided so far to the extremely challenging field of glioma research.