Inducing and Longitudinally Tracking Disease Progression
There are few preclinical models available that are capable of recapitulating advanced stages of metastatic cancer and reproducing the associated dissemination patterns of the disease, which increase the difficulty of investigating metastasis in a preclinical setting.
In this case study, we examine two methods for reproducing metastatic dissemination in vivo, with longitudinal monitoring and characterization of cancer spread via preclinical imaging.
The study compares two different injection routes to establish metastatic prostate cancer, using the 22Rv1-Luc-mCherry cell line. Expression of luciferase enabled longitudinal monitoring of disease dissemination and tumor growth via bioluminescence imaging, while mCherry expression provided an additional fluorescent marker for metastatic lesion characterization via fluorescence imaging.
This study demonstrates how these preclinical models can reproduce the clinical scenario following surgical resection of the primary tumor, in which relapse may arise from pre-existing micrometastases that were undetectable at the time of surgery. It also explores the value of longitudinally monitoring disease dissemination and progression.
