o:3494 Evidence-Based Severity Assessment of Animal Models for Pancreatic Cancer en Animal models are crucial to preclinical oncological research and drug development. Animal experiments must be performed in accordance with the 3R principles of replacement and reduction, if possible, and refinement where these procedures remain crucial. In addition, European Union legislations demand a continuous refinement approach, as well as pro- and retrospective severity assessment. In this study, an objective databased severity assessment was performed in murine models for pancreatic cancer induced by orthotopic, subcutaneous, or intravenous injection of Panc02 cells. Parameters such as body weight change, distress score, perianal temperature, mouse grimace scale, burrowing, nesting behavior, and the concentration of corticosterone in plasma and its metabolites in feces were monitored during tumor progression. The most important parameters were combined into a score and mapped against a reference data set by the Relative Severity Assessment procedure (RELSA) to obtain the maximum achieved severity for each animal (RELSAmax). This scoring revealed a significantly higher RELSAmax for the orthotopic model than for the subcutaneous and intravenous models. However, compared to animal models such as pancreatitis and bile duct ligation, the pancreatic cancer models are shown to be less severe. Data-based animal welfare assessment proved to be a valuable tool for comparing the severity of differently induced cancer models. Working Group; Tumor-Models; Murine Model; End-Points; Mouse; Discovery; Pain; Mice; Opportunities; Metastasis 1552099 10.3390/biomedicines12071494 2024-09-06T09:48:11.140Z 44 yes 46 Tim Schreiber Rostock University Medical Center Ingo Koopmann Rostock University Medical Center person 0009-0006-0898-822X Jakob Brandstetter Rostock University Medical Center person Steven R. Talbot Medizinische Hochschule Hannover person 0000-0002-9062-4065 Lea Goldstein Rostock University Medical Center person Lisa Hoffmann Rostock University Medical Center person Anna Schildt Rostock University Medical Center person Markus Joksch Rostock University Medical Center person Bernd Krause Rostock University Medical Center person Robert Jaster Rostock University Medical Center person 0000-0002-8220-4570 Rupert Palme University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna person 0000-0001-9466-3662 Dietmar Zechner Rostock University Medical Center person 0000-0002-2075-7540 Brigitte Vollmar Rostock University Medical Center person Simone Kumstel Rostock University Medical Center person 0000-0001-6942-6294 application/pdf 3691063 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:3494 no yes 16 70 1552253 Biomedicines 18 12 7 MDPI 2024