Abstract
To establish a better animal model for the study of human breast carcinomas, we investigated the growth and metastatic potential of surgical specimens of human breast carcinomas in SCID mice, using the large abdominal (gonadal) fat pad as an implantation site. Previously, we have shown that 12 (25%) out of 48 xenografts grew and reached a size of 1–2 cm within 2–6 months; these tumors were then sequentially passaged in SCID mice. In addition, we observed that the majority (8 out of 12) of these transplantable tumors became metastatic (e.g., to liver and lung) in the second or third passage. In this chapter we describe the protocol, in detail, for growing human breast carcinomas in the gonadal fat pad (GFP) of SCID mice from receiving and processing of surgical specimens to tumor implantation, passage, and archiving. We have also carefully examined and characterized these human tumor xenografts by histological analysis. Further, we identified the presence of human lymphocytes and human immunoglobulin in SCID mice bearing human breast carcinomas. The merits, potential applications, and pitfalls of this model are discussed.
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Abbreviations
- DMSO:
-
dimethyl sulfoxide
- EBV:
-
Epstein—Barr virus
- ER:
-
estrogen receptor
- FBS:
-
fetal bovine serum
- GFP:
-
gonadal fat pad
- H&E:
-
hematoxylin and eosin
- IRB:
-
institutional review board
- ISH:
-
in situ hybridization
- PBS:
-
phosphate-buffered saline
- SCID:
-
severe combined immunodeficient
- TPF:
-
tissue procurement facility
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Xu, Y., Edge, S.B., Hurd, T.C., Repasky, E.A., Slocum, H.K. (2000). Implantation and Characterization of Human Breast Carcinomas in SCID Mice. In: Ip, M.M., Asch, B.B. (eds) Methods in Mammary Gland Biology and Breast Cancer Research. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4295-7_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4295-7_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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