title: Temporal characterization of lymphatic metastasis in an orthotopic mouse model of oral cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The overall mortality rate in cases of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) has not improved over the past 30 years, mostly because of the high treatment failure rate among patients with regionally metastatic disease. To better understand the pathobiologic processes leading to lymphatic metastasis development, there is an urgent need for relevant animal models.
  
  
  METHODS
  HNSCC cell lines were implanted into the tongues of athymic nude mice. Histology, immunohistochemistry, and ex vivo 2-photon microscopy were used to evaluate tumor progress and spread.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Orthotopic xenografts of different HNSCC cell lines produced distinct patterns of survival, tumor histology, disease progression rate, and lymph node metastasis development. Remarkably, all injected cell types reached the lymph nodes within 24 hours after injection, but not all developed metastasis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This orthotopic xenograft model closely mimics several characteristics of human cancer and could be extremely valuable for translational studies focusing on lymphatic metastasis development and pathobiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, UTMB Health Cancer Center, Galveston, Texas; UTMB Health Cancer Center, Galveston, Texas.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Szaniszlo
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Fennewald
authors.forename: Suimin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kantara
authors.forename: Tuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shilagard
authors.forename: Gracie
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: Vicente A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Resto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D064593:Heterografts / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011897:Random Allocation; D000077195:Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck; D015996:Survival Rate; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; lymph node metastasis; oral cancer; orthotopic xenograft mouse model; physiologic characterization