ORTHOTOPIC Articles

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common solid neoplasm of the adult kidney and has a high potential for developing metastatic spread. Approximately 25-30% of RCC patients have metastatic disease at presentation, and 30-40% of patients develop metastases after the initial diagnosis.

The cellular basis of metastasis is poorly understood. An important step to understanding this process is to be able to visualize the routes by which cancer cells migrate from the primary tumor to various distant sites to eventually form metastasis.

There are two major types of mouse xenograft models of cancer: subcutaneous implantation and orthotopic implantation. Subcutaneous transplant models are widely used, with both cancer cell lines and human-tumor specimens.