An orthotopic nude mouse model for preclinical research of gastric cardia cancer

Purpose A clinically relevant animal model for cancer of the esophagogastric junction does not exist. This study aimed to establish an orthotopic mouse model for human gastric cancer of the distal stomach and the gastric cardia. Materials and methods Human gastric cancer cell lines AGS, MKN-45, and NCI-N87 were injected subcutaneously into nude mice. These donor tumors were harvested after 4 weeks and minced into small tumor fragments. One donor tumor fragment was orthotopically implanted into the submucosa of either gastric cardia or distal stomach in other mice. The animals were killed 4, 8, and 12 weeks after tumor implantation. Volume of the primary tumor and local and systemic tumor spread were determined. Results The implantation technique resulted in a tumor take rate of 100%. An artificial dissemination of tumor cells into the abdominal cavity due to the procedure was not observed. Conclusions We report for the first time the development of a clinically relevant mouse model for human gastric cancer of the gastric cardia and the distal stomach. Primary tumor growth and local and systemic spread progressed continuously during the observation period and mimic the human situation of this disease. This model may be suitable to evaluate novel treatment strategies for this malignancy.