MB49 – a bladder cancer murine tumor model

Bladder cancer is one of the most frequent cancers of the urinary tract, accounting for about 80,000 new cases and 18,000 deaths in the United States in 2018, according to the National Cancer Society. Typically, patients with bladder cancer have limited surgical or treatment options. Traditional chemotherapeutics are ineffective, and surgery is often used to diagnose bladder cancer and to determine whether the cancer has spread into (invaded) the muscle layer of the bladder wall.  When bladder cancer is invasive, all or part of the bladder may need to be removed, leaving the patient with long term adverse effects. In an effort to meet the need for advances in bladder cancer treatment, in 2018 the FDA accelerated the approvals for two checkpoint inhibitors, Keytruda and Tecentriq.

MC38: An immunoresponsive murine tumor model

Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer diagnosed in the United States. Colorectal cancer represents the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women and the second in men. In 2019, over 145,000 estimated new cases of colorectal cancer in the United States will be diagnosed and more than 51,000 patient deaths will occur. Prevention and early detection initiatives over the last several decades, together with improved treatment options, have resulted in reductions in colorectal cancer diagnoses and deaths. These measures have also increased the five-year overall survival rate to 64.9%, but survival drops precipitously for those patients whose cancer is not detected early.[1] For this reason, the development of new treatments for colorectal cancer is a continual need.

Phospho-protein detection in solid tumors using phospho-flow cytometry

In this article, we will be presenting phospho-protein detection in solid tumors using phospho-flow cytometry and reviewing the analysis of cabozantinib-induced inhibition of PI3K/AKT and JAK-STAT signaling in tumor vs. host immune cells.

MV(4;11): A model of human AML (acute myeloid leukemia)

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignant disorder of the progenitor cells in myeloid hematopoiesis and represents a genetically heterogeneous cancer. The onset of AML is thought to require cooperation between active proliferation and defects in myeloid differentiation, which often results in chromosomal translocation (Gilliland et al., 2004). The annual incidence of AML is ~1.8 per 100,000 people with incidence increasing significantly with age.  Clinically, a number of novel therapeutic strategies to improve outcomes in AML are being investigated. However, even with the advances in therapies and improvements in early diagnosis, the majority of patients will die from their disease.

MDA-MB-231-luc-D3H2LN: A valuable model for triple-negative breast cancer research

Breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer among women. One in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer during her lifetime, and about 10-20% of those women (more than one out of every 10) will be diagnosed with a triple-negative sub-type (ER-, PR- and HER2-). There is intense interest in developing new drugs that can treat this kind of breast cancer. Unfortunately, there are only a few preclinical models that mimic this expression profile.

Measuring Tumor Antigen-Specific Immunity Through ELISpot and FluoroSpot

Enhancement of the tumor antigen-specific response is an intended outcome of immunotherapy. Be it through an acute increase in anti-tumor immunity or formation of long-lived immunological memory, drugs that successfully boost the host adaptive immune response have a better chance of clinical success1.

Subcutaneous and systemic preclinical modeling of A20 murine B cell lymphoma

Lymphomas represent a set of lymphoid cell malignancies that can range from indolent to aggressive. B cell-derived lymphomas, specifically non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), are the most prevalent, but this disease can also originate from T cells. In 2018, an estimated 74,680 new cases of NHL in the United States will be diagnosed, and 19,910 patient deaths will occur. While the five-year survival rate for NHL is relatively high at 71%,[1] recurrence is common, so continued discovery of improved treatments for lymphoma is important for long term survival of these patients.

Focal radiation in the murine 4T1-luc2 mammary cancer model

The use of immuno-oncology therapies have seen remarkable progress in the last five years and are currently undergoing clinical trial use in combination with a variety of agents including radiation therapy (RT).1 RT is a main-stay in clinical oncology treatments with approximately 60 percent of cancer patients receiving RT at some point during their care. The clinical prevalence of RT underpins the need for effective testing of radiation combinations in the preclinical setting. In order to do this, baseline sensitivity of mouse tumor models to radiation is required.

PyMT – a transplantable murine model of breast cancer

Breast cancer remains one of the most prolific and life-threatening diseases among women worldwide. According to the American Cancer Society, among US women in 2017, there were approximately 253,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer resulting in 41,000 deaths.[1] Approximately 6-10% of new breast cancer cases (15,000-25,000) are diagnosed as metastatic (Stage IV). However, it is thought that 20-30% of all breast cancers will become metastatic over time.[1]