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The growth and metastasis of human, HER-2/neu-overexpressing tumor cell lines in male SCID mice

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Abstract

HER-2/neu is overexpressed on a variety of human adenocarcinomas and overexpression has been associated with a poor prognosis. For this reason, HER-2 has become an attractive target for immunotherapy. To facilitate testing of anti-HER-2-monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and immunotoxins (ITs), we have evaluated the in vivo growth and metastatic spread of three HER-2-overexpressing human breast cancer cell lines (BT474, MDA-MB-453 and HCC1954) and one ovarian cancer cell line (SKOV3.ip1) in pre-irradiated male SCID mice using subcutaneous (s.c.), intravenous (i.v.) and intraperitoneal (i.p.) routes of injection. All the cell lines tested grew as s.c. tumors and the growth of BT474 and MDA-MB-453 cells after s.c. injection was improved by co-inoculation with Matrigel. Metastases to the lungs were detectable by PCR or histopathology after s.c. injection of BT474 and to a much lesser extent after s.c. injection of HCC1954, MD-MB-453 and SKOV3.ip1cells. I.P. injection of HCC1954 and SKOV3.ip1 cells produced fatal ascites while i.v. injection of SKOV3.ip1, but not BT474 or MDA-MB-453 cells, resulted in infiltration of lungs and death within 9–11 weeks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Immunobiology Center, Dallas, Texas, USA

    Birgitta Clinchy, Rosalia Rabinovsky, Eitan Yefenof & Ellen S. Vitetta

  2. Tumor Immunology, The University Hospital, Linkoping, Sweden

    Birgitta Clinchy

  3. Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA

    Adi Gazdar

  4. Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel

    Rosalia Rabinovsky & Eitan Yefenof

  5. Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

    Brian Gordon & Ellen S. Vitetta

Authors
  1. Birgitta Clinchy
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Clinchy, B., Gazdar, A., Rabinovsky, R. et al. The growth and metastasis of human, HER-2/neu-overexpressing tumor cell lines in male SCID mice. Breast Cancer Res Treat 61, 217–228 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006494001861

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