An Orthotopic Endometrial Cancer Model with Retroperitoneal Lymphadenopathy Made From In Vivo Propagated and Cultured VX2 Cells

Philp L, Chan H, Rouzbahman M, Rostami A, Ding L, Bratman SV, Akens MK, Irish JC, Bernardini MQ, Zheng G

JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments), 2019

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy in North America and the incidence is rising worldwide. Treatment consists of surgery with or without adjuvant therapy depending on lymph node involvement as determined by lymphadenectomy. Lymphadenectomy is a morbid procedure, which has not been shown to have a therapeutic benefit in many patients, and thus a new method to diagnose lymph node metastases is required. To test novel imaging agents, a reliable model of endometrial cancer with retroperitoneal lymph node metastases is needed. The VX2 endometrial cancer model has been described frequently in the literature; however, significant variation exists with respect to the method of model establishment. Furthermore, no studies have reported on the use of cultured VX2 cells to create this model as only cells propagated in vivo have been previously used. Herein, we present a standardized surgical method and post-operative monitoring method for the establishment of the VX2 endometrial cancer model and report on the first use of cultured VX2 cells to create this model.