Multislice spiral computed tomography of an orthotopic severe combined immunodeficient mouse model for lung adenocarcinoma

Background and Aim:

In recent years, much research interest has been rightfully directed towards modelling human disease. The increasing demand of laboratory animals has led to a major impetus in small animal imaging. We evaluated the feasibility of using multislice spiral CT (MSCT) technology in a severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mouse model for non-small cell lung cancer.

Materials and Methods:

Mice (n = 14) were implanted orthotopically with the human non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma cell line A 549. Mice were scanned with MSCT and sacrificed 7 days (n = 3), 14 days (n = 3), and 21 days (n = 5) after tumor cell implantation, respectively. Histopathology was performed. Tumor size as revealed by imaging and pathology was correlated. A group of animals (n = 3) received anti-cancer treatment with seco-CBI-Q-galatoside. Those mice were scanned with MSCT 21 days after tumor implantation and sacrificed, and histopathologic work-up was performed.

Results:

A total of 14 mice with 14 macroscopically visible and 5 microscopically appreciable adenocarcinomas of the lung were examined. All macroscopically visible tumors were readily depicted with MSCT except from 2 lesions of 1 mm in diameter. MSCT accurately displayed the different tumor sizes in treated vs. non-treated animals.

Discussion:

MSCT proved to be a valuable tool for imaging of a murine lung cancer model. This evidences a potential use of this technology in small animal lung cancer imaging.