title: Higher susceptibility of NOD/LtSz-scid Il2rg (-/-) NSG mice to xenotransplanted lung cancer cell lines.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  No lung cancer xenograft model using non-obese diabetic (NOD)-scid Il2rg (-/-) mice has been reported. The purpose of this study is to select a suitable mouse strain as a xenogenic host for testing tumorigenicity of lung cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We directly compared the susceptibility of four immunodeficient mouse strains, c-nu, C.B-17 scid, NOD-scid, and NOD/LtSz-scid Il2rg (-/-) (NSG) mice, for tumor formation from xenotransplanted lung cancer cell lines. Various numbers (10(1)-10(5) cells/head) of two lung cancer cell lines, A549 and EBC1, were subcutaneously inoculated and tumor sizes were measured every week up to 12 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When 10(4) EBC1 cells were inoculated, no tumor formation was observed in BALB/c-nu or C.B-17 scid mice. Tumors developed in two of the five NOD-scid mice (40%) and in all the five NSG mice (100%). When 10(3) EBC1 cells were injected, no tumors developed in any strain other than NSG mice, while tumorigenesis was achieved in all the five NSG mice (100%, P=0.0079) within 9 weeks. NSG mice similarly showed higher susceptibility to xenotransplantation of A549 cells. Tumor formation was observed only in NSG mice after inoculation of 10(3) or fewer A549 cells (40% vs 0% in 15 NSG mice compared with others, respectively, P=0.0169). We confirmed that the engrafted tumors originated from inoculated human lung cancer cells by immunohistochemical staining with human cytokeratin and vimentin.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NSG mice may be the most suitable strain for testing tumorigenicity of lung cancer, especially if only a few cells are available.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Rheumatology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kanaji
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Rheumatology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tadokoro
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Rheumatology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Susaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Rheumatology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Saki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokokura
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiyomi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohmichi
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Reiji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haba
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Rheumatology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Rheumatology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bandoh
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Rheumatology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Rheumatology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dobashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Rheumatology and Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsunaga
keywords: NOD-scid Il2rg(null); mouse model; tumorigenicity; xenograft; xenotransplantation