title: A novel animal model of human breast cancer metastasis to the spine: a pilot study using intracardiac injection and luciferase-expressing cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Metastatic spine disease is prevalent in cancer victims; 10%-30% of the 1.2 million new patients diagnosed with cancer in the US exhibit spinal metastases. Unfortunately, treatments are limited for these patients, as disseminated disease is often refractory to chemotherapy and is difficult to treat with surgical intervention alone. New animal models that accurately recapitulate the human disease process are needed to study the behavior of metastases in real time.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study the authors report on a cell line that reliably generates bony metastases following intracardiac injection and can be tracked in real time using optical bioluminescence imaging. This line, RBC3, was derived from a metastatic breast adenocarcinoma lesion arising in the osseous spine of a rat following intracardiac injection of MDA-231 human breast cancer cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Upon culture and reinjection of RBC3, a statistically significantly increased systemic burden of metastatic tumor was noted. The resultant spine lesions were osteolytic, as demonstrated by small animal CT scanning.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This cell line generates spinal metastases that can be tracked in real time and may serve as a useful tool in the study of metastatic disease in the spine.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurosurgery, The Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineBaltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zadnik
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sarabia-Estrada
authors.forename: Mari L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Groves
authors.forename: Camilo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Molina
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Ziya L
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Gokaslan
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bydon
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Wolinsky
authors.forename: Timothy F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Witham
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Sciubba
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary*; D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006321:Heart; D007267:Injections; D008156:Luciferases / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism*; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D051381:Rats; D013125:Spinal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D008156:Luciferases