Sutureless Surgical Orthotopic Implantation Technique of Primary and Metastatic Cancer in the Liver of Mouse Models

• Published in: In vivo (Athens) 2020-11, Vol.34 (6), p.3153-3157
• Main Authors: Nishino, Hiroto, Hollandsworth, Hannah M, Sugisawa, Norihiko, Yamamoto, Jun, Tashiro, Yoshihiko, Inubushi, Sachiko, Hamada, Kazuyuki, Sun, Y U, Lim, Hyein, Amirfakhri, Siamak, Filemoni, Filemoni, Hoffman, Robert M, Bouvet, Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0258-851X; 1791-7549
• DOI: 10.21873/invivo.12149

Surgical orthotopic implantation (SOI) is used to establish patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) and other orthotopic mouse models. Orthotopic liver models can be challenging, as the liver parenchyma is prone to bleeding. The present report describes a sutureless method to implant tumors in the liver that reduces bleeding and procedural time. Human HCC cell-line (Huh-7-GFP) and CM2, a patient-derived colon-cancer liver metastasis, were used for sutureless SOI of tumor fragments in the liver of nude mice. A small cavity was formed on the liver surface. A solitary tumor fragment was implanted in the cavity without suturing to create hemostasis. Six weeks after sutureless SOI, the tumor volume of Huh-7-GFP (n=5) was 584.41±147.64 mm and the tumor volume of CM2 (n=5) was 1336.54±1038.20 mm The engraftment rate was 100%. This novel method for establishing orthotopic liver-implantation mouse models is suitable for studies of liver cancer and liver metastases due to its simple procedure and potential high engraftment rate.