Abstract
Background: Many areas of research, including gene and pharmacological therapeutics, would benefit from longitudinal in vivo monitoring methodologies. To investigate the feasibility of one such methodology, we developed a murine mammary cancer model amenable to sequential bioluminescent imaging of tumor growth and metastasis in living animals. Materials and Methods: Metastatic mouse mammary carcinoma BJMC3879 cells were transfected to stably express firefly luciferase and inoculated into immunocompetent female BALB/c mice. Results: Sequential analysis using bioluminescent imaging showed increasing photon counts correlated to expanding mammary tumor volumes; in addition, strong signals from axillary, mandibular, femoral, thoracic and abdominal regions in mice were histopathologically determined to be due to metastases, the majority of which occurred in lymph nodes and lungs. Conclusion: The bioluminescent mouse mammary cancer model we established provides a method for quantifiable longitudinal in vivo imaging that can be used in gene and pharmacological therapy applications.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 4389-4395 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Anticancer Research |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2009 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Bioluminescence imaging
- Luciferase
- Mammary cancer
- Metastasis
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Cancer Research