Characterisation of murine syngeneic tumor models enables rational preclinical model selection for immuno-oncology drug discovery

Mouse syngeneic tumor models are the cornerstone of preclinical assessment of immunotherapies but they remain very poorly characterised. Differences between models are not clearly understood and this hinders appropriate model selection for preclinical studies. We show that responsiveness to immunotherapies greatly varies between the models and we performed extensive characterisation of these models which revealed striking differences that could underlie these contrasting response profiles. We use whole exome sequencing to describe the genomic aberrations in the cell lines and found mutations in many key oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. This characterisation highlights the importance of extensive profiling and will enable investigators to select the appropriate models to assess the efficacy of immunotherapies in vivo.