ORTHOTOPIC IMPLANTATION OF HUMAN PROSTATE-CANCER CELL-LINES - A CLINICALLY RELEVANT ANIMAL-MODEL FOR METASTATIC PROSTATE-CANCER

BACKGROUND. To study the metastatic behavior of human prostate cancer cell lines, orthotopic injection in nude mice was performed. METHODS. Local tumor growth, metastasis formation, prostate-specific antigen, a nd androgen receptor expression were examined. RESULTS. Hormone-indepe ndent cell lines (PC-3, PC-3-125-1L, and TSU-Pr1) were highly tumorige nic and had a higher rate of lymph node metastasis after orthotopic th an after subcutaneous implantation. PC-3 cell lines also consistently metastasized to the lungs. The androgen-sensitive LNCaP cell line show ed local growth in 7 of 10, and lymph node metastasis in 4 animals. Si gnificant serum PSA levels and strong receptor expression in primary a nd metastatic tumor tissues were observed. CONCLUSIONS. These results demonstrates that orthotopic implantation of human prostate cancer cel l lines, including LNCaP, reproducibly leads to metastasis formation i n nude mice. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.