In vivo Tumor Growth and Spontaneous Metastasis Assays Using A549 Lung Cancer Cells

Lei Qi; Teresa Knifley; Dava W Piecoro; Piotr Rychahou; Jianrong Wu; Kathleen L O'Connor; Min Chen

doi:10.21769/BioProtoc.3579

In vivo Tumor Growth and Spontaneous Metastasis Assays Using A549 Lung Cancer Cells

Bio Protoc. 2020 Apr 5;10(7):e3579. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.3579.

Authors

Lei Qi¹, Teresa Knifley¹, Dava W Piecoro², Piotr Rychahou^{1

3}, Jianrong Wu^{1

4}, Kathleen L O'Connor^{1

5}, Min Chen^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40536-0679, USA.
² Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40536-0298, USA.
³ Department of Surgery, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40536-0679, USA.
⁴ Department of Biostatistics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40536-0093, USA.
⁵ Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40536-0679, USA.
⁶ Department of Toxicology and Cancer Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40536-0679, USA.

Abstract

Metastasis accounts for the majority of cancer related deaths. The genetically engineered mouse (GEM) models and cell line-based subcutaneous and orthotopic mouse xenografts have been developed to study the metastatic process. By using lung cancer cell line A549 as an example, we present a modified protocol to establish the cell line-based xenograft. Our protocol ensures sufficient establishment of the mouse xenografts and allows us to monitor tumor growth and spontaneous metastasis. This protocol could be adapted to other types of established cancer cell lines or primary cancer cells to study the mechanism of metastatic process as well as to test the effect of the potential anti-cancer agents on tumor growth and metastatic capacity.

Keywords: Cell line xenograft; Implantation; Metastasis rate; Mouse; Patient-derived xenograft; Tumor growth.

Abstract

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