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- Title
Breast Cancer Brain Metastases: Implementation and Characterization of a Mouse Model Relying on Malignant Cells Inoculation in the Carotid Artery.
- Authors
Godinho-Pereira, Joana; Vaz, Daniela; Figueira, Inês; Aniceto-Romão, Joana; Krizbai, Istvan; Malhó, Rui; Rocha, João; Carvalheiro, Manuela Colla; Simões, Sandra; Gaspar, Maria Manuela; Brito, Maria Alexandra
- Abstract
Breast cancer (BC) brain metastases (BCBM) is a severe condition frequently occurring in the triple-negative subtype. The study of BCBM pathogenesis and treatment has been hampered by the difficulty in establishing a reliable animal model that faithfully recapitulates the preferential formation of brain metastases. The injection of BC cells in the carotid artery of mice has been proposed but the procedure is challenging, with the metastatic pattern being scarcely characterized. In this work, we thoroughly describe an improved procedure, highlighting the tricks and challenges of the process, and providing a characterization of the brain and peripheral metastatic pattern at the cellular and molecular level. Triple-negative BC (4T1) cells were inoculated in the common carotid artery of BALB/c mice. Brains and peripheral organs were harvested at 7–14 days for the histological characterization of the metastases' pattern and the immunofluorescence analysis of specific markers. With our surgical procedure, both mouse death and procedure-associated weight loss were negligible. Brain metastases mostly occurred in the hippocampus, while sparse peripheral lesions were only detected in the lungs. Brain-colonizing BC cells presented proliferative (Ki-67) and epithelial (pan-cytokeratin and tomato lectin) features, which account for metastases' establishment. The presented surgical approach constitutes an important and reliable tool for BCBM studies.
- Subjects
CAROTID artery; CANCER cells; LABORATORY mice; ANIMAL disease models; BREAST; VACCINATION
- Publication
Cells (2073-4409), 2023, Vol 12, Issue 16, p2076
- ISSN
2073-4409
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/cells12162076