title: A mouse model of pulmonary metastasis from spontaneous osteosarcoma monitored in vivo by Luciferase imaging.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Osteosarcoma (OSA) is lethal when metastatic after chemotherapy and/or surgical treatment. Thus animal models are necessary to study the OSA metastatic spread and to validate novel therapies able to control the systemic disease. We report the development of a syngeneic (Balb/c) murine OSA model, using a cell line derived from a spontaneous murine tumor.
  
  
  METHODS
  The tumorigenic and metastatic ability of OSA cell lines were assayed after orthotopic injection in mice distal femur. Expression profiling was carried out to characterize the parental and metastatic cell lines. Cells from metastases were propagated and engineered to express Luciferase, in order to follow metastases in vivo.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Luciferase bioluminescence allowed to monitor the primary tumor growth and revealed the appearance of spontaneous pulmonary metastases. In vivo assays showed that metastasis is a stable property of metastatic OSA cell lines after both propagation in culture and luciferase trasduction. When compared to parental cell line, both unmodified and genetically marked metastatic cells, showed comparable and stable differential expression of the enpp4, pfn2 and prkcd genes, already associated to the metastatic phenotype in human cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This OSA animal model faithfully recapitulates some of the most important features of the human malignancy, such as lung metastatization. Moreover, the non-invasive imaging allows monitoring the tumor progression in living mice. A great asset of this model is the metastatic phenotype, which is a stable property, not modifiable after genetic manipulation.
authors: Department of Morphophysiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Torino, Grugliasco, Turin, Italy. silvia.miretti@unito.it
authors: Silvia
authors: S
authors: Miretti
authors: Ilaria
authors: I
authors: Roato
authors: Riccardo
authors: R
authors: Taulli
authors: Carola
authors: C
authors: Ponzetto
authors: Michele
authors: M
authors: Cilli
authors: Martina
authors: M
authors: Olivero
authors: Maria Flavia
authors: MF
authors: Di Renzo
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Godio
authors: Adriana
authors: A
authors: Albini
authors: Paolo
authors: P
authors: Buracco
authors: Riccardo
authors: R
authors: Ferracini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D008156:Luciferases / Q000378:metabolism*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D008156:Luciferases