Hydrodynamic cell delivery for simultaneous establishment of tumor growth in mouse lung, liver and kidney

To mimic advanced stage of cancer development involving multi-organ metastasis, hydrodynamic delivery commonly used in gene transfer was explored for establishing concurrent tumors in the lung, liver and kidney using B16-F1 melanoma cells, 4T1 breast cells and Renca renal carcinoma cells, as a model. The procedure involves a rapid injection into a mouse tail-vein of serum-free medium, containing tumor cells in a volume equal to approximately 7-9% of body weight. Compared to the conventional tail vein injection of tumor cells resulting in tumor growth only in the lung, hydrodynamic injection is highly effective in establishing tumor growth in the liver, kidney and lung. All tumor cells examined including melanoma, breast metastatic, and renal carcinoma cells showed significant tumor growth in these organs. These results suggest that the hydrodynamic delivery can be a valuable tool for modeling cancer in laboratory animals, especially in experimental mice.