Research Progress and Application of Mouse Tumor Lung Metastasis Models / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ABSTRACT

Early diagnoses and treatment methods are being constantly improved, but cancer metastasis remains a main cause of mortality in malignant tumor patients. Lung is thought to be the organ most prone to distal metastasis among malignant tumors due to its unique physiological and pathological character. Tumor lung metastasis is unpredictable and may result in irreversible damages. Presently, no exact mechanism or specific targeting therapies are found. Depending on the unique theory system-treatment based on symptom differentiation, traditional Chinese medicine has made significant progress on controlling tumor lung metastasis, but its application methods and mechanism still need further study and exploration. More appropriate and idealized animal models are required as a studying medium. Therefore, the establishment of animal models to simulate lung metastasis of cancer patients has become the key to the study of tumor lung metastasis. In order to produce a better platform for investigating the pathogenesis, underlying mechanism, early diagnosis and therapeutics for tumor lung metastasis, and to provide reference for the selection and establishment of mouse lung metastasis model, this article would introduce the implementation, application and estimation of several common methods (tail vein injection, mammary fat pad orthotopic injection, tibia injection, tissue orthotopic implantation, transgenic mice and so on). Meanwhile, the development of mouse lung metastasis model still needs expanding of thoughts, rational and flexible utilization of existing models, and interdisciplinary cooperation to establish preferable animal models and make results more reliable.