The experience of colorectal cancer xenograft heterotopic modeling of various cell types on athymic BALB/c nude mice

Abstract

Introduction. The high prevalence of colorectal cancer (СС) stimulates scientists and physicians to search methods for СС diagnosis and effective therapy, which requires appropriate animal models at the stage of development and preclinical studies.Methods. CC cell cultures (DLD-1, HCT 116, and HT-29) were used for heterotopic xenograft modeling in BALB/c nude mice. The cell suspension was injected subcutaneously with a syringe.Results. CC cells from ATCC (American Type Culture Collection) were cultivated until obtaining the required number of cells for xenograft modeling (20 days). The HCT-116 cell culture developed more actively and formed a monolayer three times faster than DLD-1 and HT-29 cells. Survival of the mice after subcutaneous transplantation was 100%. Xenografts of approximately 1 cm3 volume formed at 17-26 days after grafting. Transplantability of the injected cells was 100% for HCT-116, 75% for DLD-1, and 60% for HT-29.Conclusion. The experimental modeling of subcutaneous heterotopic CC xenografts in BALB/c nude mice showed a high level of reproducibility with absolute 100% – survival of recipient mice.