In the past 10 years, we have developed a new approach to the development of a clinically accurate rodent model for human cancer based on our invention of surgical orthotopic implantation (SOI). The SOI models have been described in approx 70 publications (2 -72 ) and in four patents.* SOI allows human tumors of all the major types of human cancer to reproduce clinical-like tumor growth and metastasis in the transplanted rodents (2 -72 ). The major features of the SOI models are reviewed here and also compared to transgenic mouse models of cancer.
