Rhabdomyosarcomas: an overview on the experimental animal models.

Rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS) are aggressive childhood soft-tissue malignancies deriving from mesenchymal progenitors that are committed to muscle-specific lineages. Despite the histopathological signatures are associated to three main histological variants, termed embryonal, alveolar and pleomorphic, a plethora of genetical and molecular changes are recognized in RMS. Over the years, exposure to carcinogens or ionizing radiations and gene targeting approaches in vivo have greatly contributed to disclose some of the mechanisms underlying RMS onset. In this review, we describe the principal distinct features associated to RMS variants and focus on the current available experimental animal models to point out the molecular determinants cooperating to RMS development and progression.