Xenotransplantation of canine tumors into severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice

Canine tumors resected at surgery or autopsy were subcutaneously xenotransplanted into SCID mice. Thirty of the seventy-three tumors (41.1%) grew primarily in SCID mice. The primary take rate of mammary tumors and skin and subcutaneous tumors was 55.9% (19/34) and 28.6% (8/28), respectively. One thyroid carcinoma, one oral leiomyosarcoma and one osteosarcoma also underwent successful primary growth. Thirteen of the forty-one benign tumors (31.7%) and 17 of the thirty-two malignant ones (53.1%) were successfully transplantable. The histological features of the primary xenografts and their original tumors were similar to each other in all the cases. Three xenografts of the four malignant tumors with metastasis in the canine patients were shown to grow also in SCID mice and two mammary tumor xenografts out of the three metastasized to the lungs of SCID mice as well. All the 30 primary tumor xenografts grown in the first recipient were successfully transplantable to the second generation of the SCID mice. Xenotransplantation using SCID mice appears to be a valuable tool for investigating the biological characteristics of canine neoplasmas.