In vivo orthotopic breast tumor model
In an interesting way, the model is characterized by the presence of at least two types of tumor-infiltrating immunosuppressive cells – myeloid suppressive cells (MSC) and T regulatory cells (Treg). Such cell populations are known, as a result, to suppress T cell responses and thus promote tumor immune escape and metastasis.
Our orthotopic syngeneic breast tumor model is a well-suited tool for preclinical testing of new anti-cancer therapies that require an intact immune system to elicit activity, e.g. checkpoint inhibitors or targeted therapies, which would directly target cancer cells or aim at suppressing the immunosuppressive cell functions. Interestingly, our model is run with stable Luc-2-expressing 4T1 tumor cells which has the advantage to monitor tumor growth by in vivo bioluminescence imaging (BLI).