# Make bespoke mouse cancer models in weeks with in vivo gene editing

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio1-somatic-crispr-gemms/  
OnCo record `idea-bio1-somatic-crispr-gemms` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Building a genetically engineered mouse for a specific cancer takes years. Editing genes directly in an adult mouse's organ can produce the same tumour in weeks.

## Summary

Somatic genome editing by electroporation, viral delivery or lipid nanoparticles into a target organ produces autochthonous tumours with intact immune systems and native microenvironment, at a fraction of the time and cost of germline models. This has been demonstrated in lung, pancreas, liver and brain. Combinatorial guide libraries also allow genotype-response mapping in immunocompetent animals.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: Somatic-editing models reproduce the histology, immune contexture and therapy response of matched germline models while reducing time to model from years to under three months.
- Rationale: Immunocompetent, genotype-defined models are the scarcest resource in translational oncology; the editing tools now exist and the bottleneck is standardisation and sharing of protocols.
- Proposed test: Direct comparison of somatic and germline models for three well-characterised genotypes on histology, immune profiling and response to a standard agent.
- Maturity: preclinical-evidence
- Actor: research

## Sources

- Bottleneck evidence (Lab models that fail to predict what happens in patients): Wong, Siah & Lo, Estimation of clinical trial success rates (Biostatistics 2019): https://doi.org/10.1093/biostatistics/kxx069

## Connected records

- cancers: [Glioma & glioblastoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/glioblastoma/), [Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/), [Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/pancreatic/)
- technologies: [CRISPR functional genomics](https://onco.cc/technologies/crispr-screens/), [Patient-derived xenografts](https://onco.cc/technologies/pdx-models/)
- bottlenecks: [Lab models that fail to predict what happens in patients](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-preclinical-models/)
- key papers: [Estimation of clinical trial success rates and related parameters](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-wong-biostatistics/)

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