Orthotopic Pancreatic Tumor Xenograft

Female six week old athymic-nu/nu mice were purchased from Envigo and handled in accordance with the University of Iowa Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). MIA PaCa-2 cells (4 × 10⁵) expressing luciferase and GFP were injected orthotopically directly into the pancreas of mice using ultrasound guidance as previously described [24 (link)]. Cells were suspended in a 1:1 mixture of PBS and Matrigel (Corning, St. Louis, MO) immediately prior to injections to prevent cells from dispersing throughout the abdomen. Tumor formation and growth were monitored weekly through bioluminescent imaging. Mice were given IP injections (200 µl) of a 15 mg/ml solution of VivoGlo^TM luciferin (Promega, Madison, WI). Following injection, mice were anesthetized by isoflurane inhalation and imaged using the AMI-1000 (Spectral Instruments Imaging). Total photon flux (photons per second) was quantified (AMIView software) by placing and area of interest around each mouse. Tumor progression was allowed to continue for fifty days post cancer cell injection.