title: Combined micro CT and histopathology for evaluation of skeletal metastasis in live animals.
abstract: Bone is a favored site for solid tumor metastasis, especially among patients with breast, lung or prostate carcinomas. Micro CT is a powerful and inexpensive tool that can be used to investigate tumor progression in xenograft models of human disease. Many previous studies have relied on terminal analysis of harvested bones to document metastatic tumor activity. The current protocol uses live animals and combines sequential micro CT evaluation of lesion development with matched histopathology at the end of the study. The approach allows for both rapid detection and evaluation of bone lesion progression in live animals. Bone resident tumors are established either by direct (intraosseous) or arterial (intracardiac) injection, and lesion development is evaluated for up to eight weeks. This protocol provides a clinically relevant method for investigating bone metastasis progression and the development of osteotropic therapeutic strategies for the treatment of bone metastases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Geffre
authors.affiliation: University of Arizona Cancer Center Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pond
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
authors.forename: Gerald D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Pond
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
authors.forename: Isis C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Sroka
authors.affiliation: University of Arizona Cancer Center Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
authors.forename: Jaime M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gard
authors.affiliation: University of Arizona Cancer Center Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
authors.forename: Bethany A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Skovan
authors.affiliation: University of Arizona Cancer Center Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
authors.forename: William E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Meek
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
authors.forename: Terry H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Landowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
authors.forename: Raymond B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Nagle
authors.affiliation: University of Arizona Cancer Center Tucson, AZ 85724, USA ; Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
authors.forename: Anne E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Cress
keywords: Bone; histopathology; metastasis; micro CT; prostate cancer; xenograft