title: Establishment of human patient-derived endometrial cancer xenografts in NOD scid gamma mice for the study of invasion and metastasis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Most endometrial cancers are detected early and have a good prognosis, while some endometrial cancers are highly invasive, metastasize early, and respond suboptimally to therapy. Currently, appropriate model systems to study the aggressive nature of these tumors are lacking. The objective of this study was to establish a mouse xenograft model of endometrial tumors derived from patients in order to study the biological aggressive characteristics that underlie invasion and metastasis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Endometrial tumor tissue fragments (1.5 mm × 1.5 mm) from patients undergoing surgery, were transplanted under the renal capsule of NOD scid gamma mice. After 6-8 weeks, tumors were excised and serially transplanted into additional mice for propagation. Immunohistochemical analysis of the tumors was done for various tumor markers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four cases of different subtypes of endometrial cancer were grown and propagated in mice. Three of the four tumor cases invaded into the kidneys and to adjacent organs. While all tumors exhibited minimal to no staining for estrogen receptor α, progesterone receptor staining was observed for tumor grafts. In addition, levels and localization of E-cadherin, cytokeratin and vimentin varied depending on subtype. Finally, all tumor xenografts stained positively for urokinase plasminogen activator while 3 tumor xenografts, which showed invasive characteristics, stained positively for urokinase plasminogen activator receptor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Endometrial tumors transplanted under the renal capsule exhibit growth, invasion and local spread. These tumors can be propagated and used to study aggressive endometrial cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Science in Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Unno
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Science in Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States of America.
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States of America.
authors.forename: Abigail D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Winder
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kruti P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Maniar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ajit S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Paintal
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Science in Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States of America.
authors.forename: Yanni
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jian-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States of America.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Lurain
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Science in Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States of America.
authors.forename: J Julie
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000032:analysis; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D004717:Endometrium / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD; D016513:Mice, SCID; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000032:analysis; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator