Development of Orthotopic Patient-Derived Xenograft Models of Pediatric Intracranial Tumors

Abstract

The development of clinically relevant and reliable models of central nervous system tumors has been instrumental in advancing the field of Neuro-Oncology. The orthotopic intracranial injection is widely used to study the growth, invasion, and spread of tumors in a controlled environment. Orthotopic models are performed to examine tumor cells isolated from a specific region in a patient in the same site or location in an animal model. Orthotopic brain tumor models are also utilized for preclinical testing of therapeutics as they closely recapitulate the behavior of such cancer and the brain environment of patients. Below, we describe our experiences in the development of murine models of pediatric brain tumors including diffuse midline glioma (DMG), glioblastoma (GBM), and medulloblastoma. The method provides an overview of intracranial stereotactic injections in mice.

Keywords: DMG; Diffuse midline glioma; GBM; Glioblastoma; Intracranial tumor; Medulloblastoma; Orthotopic model; Orthotopic xenograft model; Patient-derived xenograft; Pediatric; Precision medicine; Stereotactic injection; Translational.