A Trp53(fl/fl)Pten(fl/fl) mouse model of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma mediated by adeno-Cre injection and in vivo bioluminescence imaging

Genetic mouse models of soft tissue sarcoma provide critical insights into disease pathophysiology, which are oftentimes unable to be extracted from human tumor samples or xenograft models. In this study we describe a mouse model of soft tissue sarcoma mediated by adenoviral-Cre recombinase injection into Trp53(fl/fl)/Pten(fl/fl) lox-stop-lox luciferase mice. Injection of adenovirus expressing Cre recombinase, either subcutaneously or intramuscularly in two experimental groups, results in viral infection and gene recombination with 100% penetrance within the first 24 hours following injection. Luciferase expression measured by real-time bioluminescence imaging increases over time, with an initial robust increase following viral injection, followed by a steady rise over the next several weeks as primary tumors develop and grow. Intramuscular injections were more commonly associated with evidence of systemic viral distribution than subcutaneous injections. All mice developed soft tissue sarcomas at the primary injection site, with histological examination identifying 93% of tumors as invasive pleomorphic sarcomas based on microscopic morphology and immunohistochemical expression of sarcoma markers. A lymphocytic infiltrate was present in 64% of the sarcomas in this immunocompetent model and 71% of tumors expressed PD-L1. This is the first report of a viral-Cre mediated Trp53/Pten mouse model of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma. The bioluminescence imaging feature, along with high penetrance of the model and its immunological characteristics, makes it suited for pre-clinical studies of soft tissue sarcoma.