Innovative Bioluminometric Quantification of Cancer Cell Load in Target Organs: Implications for Studying Anticancer...

Animal models are essential for developing effective drugs for treating human cancer. Examination of the formation of lung surface foci of B16-F10 melanoma cells is a widely used animal model for studying cancer metastasis and drug intervention. This model, however, suffers from several drawbacks, including its non-quantitative nature and inability to yield information on cancer cell load inside the target organ. Here we report the development of a highly sensitive, bioluminescence-based method for quantifying melanoma cell load in mouse lungs following intravenous injection of luciferase-expressing B16-F10 melanoma cells. This method could readily detect as few as 1-10 cells in the samples and enable quantification of cancer cell load before the formation of surface foci in mouse lungs following metastasis of intravenously inoculated B16-F10 melanoma cells. This innovative bioluminometry-based method has important implications for studying anticancer drugs, including naturally occurring redox-active quinones that generate reactive oxygen species to kill cancer cells.