| Abstract |
Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the United States
with an estimated 130,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Many cases are
asymptomatic and not diagnosed until late stage of disease. Identification
of primary tumors at an earlier stage is advantageous in treatment
planning and aids in decreasing the morbidity/mortality rate from
recurrence. The aim of our studies is to establish a xenograft system for
monitoring tumor growth and metastasis in vivo which allows continual
evaluation of drug and drug regimen efficacy at all stages of tumor
progression. LoVo-6-luc-1, a luciferase expressing cell line derived from
LoVo human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells, was injected by various routes
(subcutaneous, intraperitoneal and intracecal) into female SCID-bg mice.
Tumor growth and metastatic spread was monitored weekly by in vivo imaging
using the Xenogen IVIS imaging platform. Visible bioluminescence signals
were detected immediately after injection and high tumor take was seen in
all of the models. In the subcutaneous model, we found a high correlation
between mean bioluminescence and mean tumor volume. In the intraperitoneal
and ceacum injected models, the onset of tumor spread was rapid and ex
vivo imaging confirmed metastasis to multiple organs such as liver, lung,
kidney, adrenal gland, spleen and ovary.
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