Guidelines Aim to Improve Welfare of Rodent Cancer Models

Rats and mice are often used as cancer models—meaning cancer is induced in these animals to study the progression of the disease and potential treatments in hopes of translating the findings into successful treatments of human cancers. Until recently, there was no clear and standardized approach for how to minimize the suffering of rodents in oncology research. In February, a set of standards devised by an international group of scientists was published in the journal Nature Protocols (De Vleeschauwer et al., 2024). Dubbed Oncology Best-practices: Signs, Endpoints and Refinements for in Vivo Experiments (OBSERVE), these guidelines provide recommendations to scientists and animal care staff for improving the welfare of rodents in cancer research. The guidelines include health and tumor growth monitoring sheets, descriptions of symptoms and humane endpoints, and an overview of severity assessment, among other resources.

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