PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Clinical, Anatomical, and Comparative Pathology
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Approaches in Veterinary Pathology: Diagnostics, Therapeutics, and Zoonotic Threats - volume IIView all 5 articles
Preclinical Research Platform for Uterine Leiomyoma: Construction Optimization and Selection of Animal Models
Provisionally accepted
- 1Eighth Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Foshan, China
- 2Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Foshan, China
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Uterine leiomyomas (ULs) are increasingly becoming a disease affecting women's health and are one of the most common tumors of the female reproductive system. The pathogenesis of ULs remains incompletely understood, and abnormal hormone levels as well as genetic factors are considered to be causative factors. To further investigate the pathogenesis of this disease, explore new treatment options, and validate new therapeutic drugs, reliable animal models are indispensable. The main animal models currently used for studying ULs include four categories: spontaneous animal models, genetically modified animal models, hormone-induced animal models, and xenograft animal models. This paper systematically reviews the advantages and disadvantages of these four major animal models, their applicable scenarios, proposes potential optimization strategies, and organizes a framework for matching research objectives with appropriate animal models, thereby promoting research on the mechanisms and treatment approaches of ULs.
Keywords: animal model, Genetically engineered, Hormone-induced, Uterine leiomyoma, Xenograft
Received: 21 Dec 2025; Accepted: 30 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Wu, Luo, Lin, Gu and You. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhehui You
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