Methods to Study Metastasis in Genetically Modified Mice

Farhia Kabeer; Levi J Beverly; Guillaume Darrasse-Jèze; Katrina Podsypanina

doi:10.1101/pdb.top069948

Methods to Study Metastasis in Genetically Modified Mice

Cold Spring Harb Protoc. 2016 Feb 1;2016(2):pdb.top069948. doi: 10.1101/pdb.top069948.

Authors

Farhia Kabeer¹, Levi J Beverly², Guillaume Darrasse-Jèze³, Katrina Podsypanina⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec H2W 1R7, Canada; Department of Medicine, Experimental Medicine Division, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec H3A 1A3, Canada;
² Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40202; Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40202;
³ Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Université Paris 06, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7211; INSERM, Unité Mixte de Researche S959, R3, F-75013 Paris, France; Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades, Faculté de Médecine Paris Desecartes; INSERM, Unité 1013, F-75015 Paris, France; Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065.
⁴ Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec H2W 1R7, Canada; Pathologie et Biologie Cellulaire, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec H3T 1J4, Canada; Department of Medicine, Experimental Medicine Division, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec H3A 1A3, Canada;

PMID: 26832689
DOI: 10.1101/pdb.top069948

Abstract

Metastasis is often modeled by xenotransplantation of cell lines in immunodeficient mice. A wealth of information about tumor cell behavior in the new environment is obtained from these efforts. Yet by design, this approach is "tumor-centric," as it focuses on cell-autonomous determinants of human tumor dissemination in mouse tissues, in effect using the animal body as a sophisticated "Petri dish" providing nutrients and support for tumor growth. Transgenic or gene knockout mouse models of cancer allow the study of tumor spread as a systemic disease and offer a complimentary approach for studying the natural history of cancer. This introduction is aimed at describing the overall methodological approach to studying metastasis in genetically modified mice, with a particular focus on using animals with regulated expression of potent human oncogenes in the breast.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Mice
Mice, Transgenic*
Neoplasm Metastasis / pathology*