title: Detection of myeloma in skeleton of mice by whole-body optical fluorescence imaging.
abstract: Development of new therapies for myeloma has been hindered by the lack of suitable preclinical animal models of the disease in which widespread tumor foci in the skeleton can be detected reliably. Traditional means of detecting skeletal tumor infiltration such as histopathology are cumbersome and labor-intensive and do not allow temporal monitoring of tumor progression or regression in response to therapy. To resolve this problem, we modified the Radl 5TGM1 model of myeloma bone disease such that fluorescent myeloma tumors can be optically imaged in situ. Here, we show that murine myeloma 5TGM1 tumor cells, engineered to express enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP; 5TGM1-eGFP cells), can be imaged in a temporal fashion using a fluorescence illuminator and a charge-coupled device camera in skeletons of live C57BL/KaLwRij mice. High-resolution, whole-body images of tumor-bearing mice revealed that myeloma cells homed almost exclusively to the skeleton, with multiple focal tumor foci in the axial skeleton, consistent with myeloma tumor distribution in humans. Finally, the tested antitumor treatment effect of Velcade (bortezomib), a proteasome inhibitor used clinically in myeloma, was readily detected by GFP imaging, suggesting the power of the technique in combination with the Radl 5TGM1-eGFP model for rapid preclinical assessment and sensitive monitoring of novel and potential therapeutics. Whole-body GFP imaging is practical, convenient, inexpensive, and rapid, and these advantages should enable a high throughput when evaluating in vivo efficacy of new potential antimyeloma therapeutics and assessing response to treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular and Structural Biology MSC 7762, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900, USA. oyajobi@uthscsa.edu
authors.forename: Babatunde O
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Oyajobi
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: Rami
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kakonen
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Anjana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Christi L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Wideman
authors.forename: Beryl
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Story
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grubbs
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Dougall
authors.forename: I Ross
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Garrett
authors.forename: Gregory R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Mundy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005453:Fluorescence; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: C485184:enhanced green fluorescent protein; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins