Without the use of animals in cancer research we would not be able to find nearly as many cures for cancer that could save millions of lives. Not all of our research needs the use of animals, but for some scientists it is an essential research tool that helps discover new cancer cures and test if they work. But what do we mean by animal use? And how is it regulated?
You may be looking for information on animal testing. Please note that in this article, we specifically refer to our use of animals in research. What's the difference?
Our animals in research position statement
Our mission is to start the lifesaving cancer research advances of the future by sowing the seeds of new discoveries today. We sit at the very start of the research journey, backing brand new ideas and supporting scientists to ask big, challenging, new question about how cancer works.
To achieve this, we support pioneering, innovative research that aims to find new and better ways of preventing, diagnosing, and treating cancer. Much of this research is carried out without involving animals.
In certain areas, however, laboratory animal research remains an essential tool to translate ground-breaking discoveries into new tests or treatments for cancer that could save millions of lives.
This is why we believe properly regulated animal research is both necessary and justified when there is no other alternative. Worldwide Cancer Research is committed to ensuring the animal research we fund is as robust and reproducible as possible, and that the highest standards of laboratory welfare are met.
As a cancer research charity, we recognise the importance of the principles of the 3Rs and actively support their implementation.
These principles are:
- Replacement
- Reduction
- Refinement
As a member of the UK’s Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), we fully support their position statement on the use of animals in research. The full statement can be found here.
We have signed the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK, demonstrating our commitment to helping the public understand more about the use of animals in research.
Why is animal research necessary to find new cancer cures?
Animals are very good models for how cancer behaves in patients. Studying cancer and how it responds new cures in an animal tells researchers a lot more than studying individual cells in the lab.
Animal studies are involved in many aspects of cancer research. From the discovery research funded by Worldwide Cancer Research through to clinical trials for new drugs animal research can help build a complete understanding of cancer.
For Dr Laura Soucek in Spain, her experiments with mice were vital to prove that her new cancer drug Omomyc can prevent cancer. Without the data from her mice experiments the drug would not have been approved for clinical trials.
What are the benefits of using animals in cancer research?
A team of Worldwide Cancer Research scientists in France have studied the genetic code of fruit flies to investigate what goes wrong when inherited genes trigger a tumour to grow.
Dr Allison Bardin and her team hope this could lead to the development of drugs that can prevent familial or hereditary cancers from starting. Fruit flies are often used for genetic studies as their genetic material is 16 times smaller than the genome of humans or other mammals, which makes it quicker and easier to study.
In Manchester Dr Adam Hurlstone has found a clue towards improving immunotherapy treatments for melanoma patients by studying mice with melanoma.
Mice are the most common animal used in animal research around the world. They are very similar to humans genetically and their short lifespans mean researchers can look at all life stages of cancer more easily from how tumours develop to how to optimise treatments.
The continued importance of using animals in cancer research:
As a cancer research charity we are committed to backing scientists with the best ideas that could lead to new cancer cures. There are so many unanswered questions about cancer and using appropriate animal models lets researchers find out the much-needed answers.
Thanks to Curestarters we are also looking at ways to reduce the amount of animals used in research. Dr Niall Kenneth in Liverpool is exploring an interesting alternative to mice - fertilised hen’s eggs. These eggs are a cheaper, more ethical option and could help Dr Kenneth find a new lung cancer cure.
Animals in research FAQs:
Does Worldwide Cancer Research fund research that involves animals?
Yes, some of the research we fund involves the use of animals as this can help us to better understand how cancer behaves and how to stop it.
What is the difference between animal testing and the use of animals in research?
The term 'animal testing' refers specifically to the use of animals to test if certain products (such as cosmetics or medicines) work. Animal research covers a wide range of research that uses animals, including discovery research like ours to understand how cancer works and how to develop better options for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. While animal testing is a specific type of animal research, not all animal research involves animal testing.
Why is the use of animals in research needed?
To work out how cancers develop and spread, there are different techniques researchers can use. Sometimes they do experiments using cells grown in the lab, others use computer programmes to study how cancer behaves, or a researcher might look carefully at samples from human tumours.
But seeing how cancer grows in a living organism can help scientists understand more about how tumours behave and spread and can give clues about potential new cures. Testing new treatments in animals can give a reasonable idea of how it might work in a person and if it is safe.
What animals are used in cancer research and why?
Thanks to you, in 2024 we funded 30 new discovery research projects around the world. Out of these, 19 projects involve animal research. In 18 out of 19 of these projects the animals used are mice, and in one project rabbits are used to study eye cancer since rabbits have similar eye anatomy to humans.
Mice are so commonly used because they are small, relatively inexpensive and genetically 85% the same as us. They have the same set of organs as us and get the same types of diseases, including cancer. Researchers know a lot about the biology of mice because they have been studying them for a long time, which makes it easier to spot anything different to the norm. Mice also have a short life cycle meaning they reproduce quickly and often, and researchers can easily study them at all stages of life.
What do we ask of our researchers?
All our researchers using animals must follow our animals in research policy. That means explaining that there were no alternative ways to do her research and that efforts will be made to replace, reduce and refine the use of animals. We only spend your donations on animal research projects that comply with all applicable laws, regulations and animal welfare standards.
How is the use of animals in research regulated?
There are strict rules around the welfare of animals used in research to ensure they have sufficient space, food, water and care. In the UK, the situation is being closely monitored by NC3Rs, the National Centre for Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of Animals in Research. This scientific organisation helps researchers find ways to reduce or replace the use of animals in experiments, or to improve how things are currently done, so that fewer or no animals will have to be used.
How are we helping to reduce the need for animals in research?
One of our researchers - Professor Stefano Biffo in Milan is exploring a new state-of-the-art technique which may reduce the need for animals in research. Stefano and his team are hoping to create an animal-free model which is a type of a 'co-culture' that works by circulating white blood cells with cancer cells from patients using instruments called 'millifluidic devices'. This will enable the team to study interactions between the tumour and its environment, find out more about how cancers develop and allow the identification of new therapeutic targets. If successful, this new model will help to remove some of the need for animals in research.
In the future there may be better ways to do research without the need to use animals. For now, animal research remains a vital way for our researchers to discover and test new cancer cures.
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