Abstract #0182

Immune co-stimulatory blockade permits human glioblastoma xenografting in immunocompetent mice: model validation with MRI and bioluminescence imaging

Samantha Lynn Semenkow¹, Shen Li², Eric Raabe^1,3, Jiadi Xu^2,4, Miroslaw Janowski^2,5, Byoung Chol Oh⁶, Gerald Brandacher⁶, Jeff W. Bulte^2,4, Charles Eberhart^1,3,7, and Piotr Walczak²

¹Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institue, Baltimore, MD, United States, ²Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins Medical Institue, Baltimore, MD, United States, ³Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institue, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁴F. M. Kirby Center for Functional Brain Imaging Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins Medical Institue, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁵NeuroRepair Department, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Warsaw, Poland, ⁶Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Medical Institue, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁷Department of Opthalmology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institue, Baltimore, MD, United States

Immunodeficient mice are currently used for modeling human brain tumor xenografts; however, immunodeficiency is a serious limitation precluding studies based on immunotherapy or inducing tumors in a variety of transgenic animal models. We therefore investigated whether disruption of co-stimulatory signaling using blocking antibodies induces tolerance to intracerebrally transplanted human glioblastoma xenografts in immunocompetent mice. With longitudinal MRI and bioluminescence we established that the growth rate of xenografts is comparable between immunodeficient and tolerance-induced immunocompetent mice. Quantitative MRI including T2/T1 relaxation time, MTR, diffusion parameters and perfusion were not significantly different, validating this new approach as a reliable brain tumor model.

This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.

Join Here