Johns Hopkins researchers developed a human breast cancer cell line (RBC3) to study spinal metastasis. Specifically, the cell line was isolated from a spinal metastatic lesion, and was tagged with GFP and luciferase. When RBC3 is injected into the left ventricle of athymic female rats, it increases the fraction of animals affected with spinal metastasis, leading to paralysis in all animals demonstrating bioluminescence positive signal. The result shows that RBC3 generates metastases to the spine at a higher frequency than the commercially available cell line following intracardiac injection.
Technical Details:
Metastatic breast cancer is a growing problem, as more patients are surviving long term following treatment for primary breast cancer. Among patients with metastatic cancer, the spine is the most common bony site affected by metastasis. However, the current breast cancer cell lines limit migration to new metastatic sites in rats, which can not accurately reflect the human pathophysiology of metastatic breast cancer. This technology provides a research tool to study metastatic breast cancer in a rat model. Other advantages of this cell line include: • Generates metastases to spine quickly for shorter time to data collection • Useful to test therapeutic options • Generates metastases to the spine at a higher frequency than commercially available metastatic cell lines • GFP and Luciferase signal allows real-time monitoring of metastatic disease progression and tumor growth
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This tangible material is a human breast cancer cell line useful for studying spinal metastasis in animal models.
