Research article

Establishing an in vivo model of canine prostate carcinoma using the new cell line CT1258

Melani AM Fork¹ , Hugo Murua Escobar^1,2 , Jan T Soller^1,2 , Katharina A Sterenczak^1,2 , Saskia Willenbrock^1,2 , Susanne Winkler² , Martina Dorsch³ , Nicola Reimann-Berg^1,2 , Hans J Hedrich³ , Jörn Bullerdiek^1,2 and Ingo Nolte¹

¹  Small Animal Clinic, University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover, Hanover, Germany

²  Center for Human Genetics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

³  Institute of Laboratory Animal Science, Hanover Medical School, Hanover, Germany

author email corresponding author email

BMC Cancer 2008, 8:240doi:10.1186/1471-2407-8-240

Published:	15 August 2008

Abstract

Background

Prostate cancer is a frequent finding in man. In dogs, malignant disease of the prostate is also of clinical relevance, although it is a less common diagnosis. Even though there are numerous differences in origin and development of the disease, man and dog share many similarities in the pathological presentation. For this reason, the dog might be a useful animal model for prostate malignancies in man.

Although prostate cancer is of great importance in veterinary medicine as well as in comparative medicine, there are only few cell lines available. Thus, it was the aim of the present study to determine whether the formerly established prostate carcinoma cell line CT1258 is a suitable tool for in vivo testing, and to distinguish the growth pattern of the induced tumours.

Methods

For characterisation of the in vivo behaviour of the in vitro established canine prostate carcinoma cell line CT1258, cells were inoculated in 19 NOD.CB17-Prkdc^Scid/J (in the following: NOD-Scid) mice, either subcutaneously or intraperitoneally. After sacrifice, the obtained specimens were examined histologically and compared to the pattern of the original tumour in the donor.

Cytogenetic investigation was performed.

Results

The cell line CT 1258 not only showed to be highly tumourigenic after subcutaneous as well as intraperitoneal inoculation, but also mimicked the behaviour of the original tumour.

Conclusion

Tumours induced by inoculation of the cell line CT1258 resemble the situation in naturally occurring prostate carcinoma in the dog, and thus could be used as in vivo model for future studies.