A clinically relevant mouse model of canine osteosarcoma with spontaneous metastasis.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Many patients with osteosarcoma (OS) will succumb to distant metastasis, often involving the lungs. Effective therapies for treating lung metastases depend on the availability of a clinically relevant pre-clinical model.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mice were surgically implanted with OS tumor fragments. The time course of primary tumor growth and subsequent spread to the lung were determined.
RESULTS: Following development of a lytic and proliferative primary bone lesion, tumor metastasized to the lung in the majority of mice. There was no evidence of tumor at three weeks, but 10 out of 11 mice ultimately developed secondary OS in the lung within 12 weeks.
CONCLUSION: Implantation of OS tumor fragments leads to the development of primary bone tumors and secondary lung metastases, recapitulating the clinical behavior of OS. This model offers an advantage over cell suspension injection models by precluding initial seeding of the lung with tumor cells.