Longitudinal Evaluation of Orthotopic Lung Tumors With Imaging

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer related deaths for men and second for women (after breast cancer). Worldwide, 1.8 million diagnoses and 1.6 million deaths occur annually.¹ While incidences have been decreasing over recent decades and advances in diagnosis and treatments are being made in cancer as a whole, only 17 percent of patients diagnosed with lung cancer will survive five years leaving an opportunity for new therapies to make a large impact on this population of patients. The combination of surgery, traditional chemotherapies, targeted therapies, radiation, and immunotherapy have been shown to be beneficial treatment options; and development of novel therapies and/or combinations continue.

Figure 1: 3D CT image of metastatic tumor burden in a PyMT breast tumor model.
 

Figure 2: FDG PET/CT image of a PDX orthotopic tumor model.
 

Clinical imaging technologies have been vital for detecting and following disease progression/regression for many years, as examples, Computed Tomography (CT) can measure tumor volume over time and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) can measure metabolic activity within the tumors. We have been utilizing preclinical imaging technologies for over a decade to evaluate tumors in the lung from orthotopic implants of syngeneic, primary tumor xenografts (PDX), GEM models and metastatic disease (Figures 1, 2, and 3). Now with the increase of interest in immunotherapies, where the extracellular matrix can play a significant role in the engagement of immune cells, the stroma now is of greater importance;^{2, 3} the use of imaging allows for therapy evaluation in the appropriate stroma.

We have the knowledge to apply the right imaging technology to the appropriate oncology model which empowers your research. Contact us for further details.