Understanding the Growth of Xenografted Tumors

Ashley Kuczmera

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-9-2024

Keywords

JMG

JAX Location

In: Student Reports, Summer 2024, The Jackson Laboratory

Abstract

The prognosis of the same cancer does not have a "one treatment fits all." After observing different growth patterns in five genetically diverse mice with subcutaneous engraftments from a triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell line, MDA-MB-231/Luc (MDA), Dr. Muneer Hasham's lab at The Jackson Laboratory published that the genetic background of a mouse determines protein expression of the xenografted neoplastic cells, in respect to growth. As our next step, we will investigate if the resulting tumor growth has changed the neoplastic cells intrinsically, thus producing cells independent of a different tumor microenvironment (TME). We will examine two immunodeficient strains, NOD/ShiltJ Rag1-1 - (NR) and C57BL/6J Rag1-1 - (B6R), by extracting cell line-derived tumors from NR and implanting them in both NR and B6R mice. Conversely, tumors from B6R will be implanted in both NR and B6R mice. Previously, B6R has shown slower tumor growth compared to NR. For this study, it can be hypothesized that tumor growth occurs through adaptation to the TME because it provides enriching nutrients to the neoplastic cells. Therefore, we expect NR mice engrafted with B6R cells to demonstrate fast tumor growth, and B6R mice engrafted with NR cells to demonstrate slow tumor growth. However, results suggest the TME of both mouse strains, also known as a non-conducive and conducive environment, respectively, did not affect how the passaged cells developed (P>0.05). The rationale underlying this investigation is to examine if passaged cancer cells are affected by the TME. This will provide a better understanding to using diverse mouse models and improve early detection therapeutics.

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