Development of an orthotopic model of human metastatic prostate cancer in the NOD-SCIDγ mouse (Mus musculus) anterior prostate

Prostate cancer is one of the most prevalent oncological diseases in males worldwide, and the mortalities resulting from this type of cancer are mainly due to metastasis. The most common models for the study of metastasis are transgenic and immunocompromised mice, which enable the study of the metastatic process in a controlled way by the injection of prostate cancer cells into the mice. In the present study, NOD-SCIDγ mice were injected orthotopically with PC3 cells in the anterior prostate in order to establish a metastatic model. The results demonstrated the development and growth of a primary tumor that preceded the formation of micrometastases in the lung, liver and pancreas, followed by macrometastases in the liver. This model adequately represents the dynamics of the metastatic process, and may be useful for novel therapeutic assays and post-surgical relapse studies.