María Jiménez-González1, Sandra Plaza-García1, Géraldine Pastor1, and Torsten Reese1
We developed a
pancreatic tumor xenograft model in a nude mice to study characteristics of
nearby lymph nodes. Using non invasive in vivo MR imaging at 11.7 Tesla, we monitored the tumor
progression from 8 to 20 weeks. We observed enlarged lymph nodes in tumor
bearing animals comparing to controls. Histological analysis demonstrated the presence of significant
histiocytosis but not metastasis. Our study suggests that lymph node
histiocytosis, in absence of functional adaptative immune system, plays a significant
role of the innate immuno defense against cancer cells spreading.
