Page 31 - Read Online

Page 8 of 9 Felton et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2018;4:51 I http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2018.39

An important limitation of our new approach is that, as discussed in the Introduction, colon cancer im-
munotherapy cannot be studied in models using immune-deficient mice. However, humanizing the mouse
immune system may achieve this goal. Next-generation models, including “immunoavatar mice” could of-
fer the ability to study the effects of immunotherapy in colon cancer. Hemato-lymphoid humanized mouse
models may allow the development of a complete human immune system in a human tumor-bearing
[30]
mouse . Yet, even these humanized models are likely to present important obstacles with regard to mim-
icking the physiological maturation of human immune cells and the progression of human colon cancer.

In conclusion, our findings identify preferential growth of murine colon neoplasia and invasive human
orthotopic xenografts in the distal mouse colon. These data support the utility of mouse models to study
anatomical variance in the development and progression of colon neoplasia. We describe a useful model for
inducing metastatic colon cancer in mice that is neither laborious nor time-consuming. This novel approach
furnishes animals that closely mimic the progression of metastatic colon cancer in humans. This approach
shows promise for studying novel therapeutics targeting colon cancer dissemination and metastasis.

DECLARATIONS
Authors’ contributions
Study Design: Felton J, Cheng K, Raufman JP
Experimental Methods: Felton J, Cheng K, Shang AC, Hu S, Drachenberg CB, Raufman JP
Manuscript Preparation: Felton J
Final Review: Felton J, Raufman JP
Manuscript Review: Cheng K, Shang AC, Hu S, Larabee SM, Drachenberg CB, Raufman JP

Availability of data and materials
Not applicable.

Financial support and sponsorship
This work was supported by VA Merit Award BX002129 (JPR) from the United States (U.S.) Department of
Veterans Affairs Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development Program. The contents do not represent
the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government. Jessica Felton and
Shannon Larabee were supported by T32 DK067872.

Conflicts of interest
All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.

Copyright
© The Author(s) 2018.

REFERENCES
1. Lee WY, Hong HK, Ham SK, Kim CI, Cho YB. Comparison of colorectal cancer in differentially established liver metastasis models. Anti-
cancer Res 2014;34:3321-8.
2. Iacopetta B. Are there two sides to colorectal cancer? Int J Cancer 2002;101:403-8.
3. Sugai T, Habano W, Jiao YF, Tsukahara M, Takeda Y, Otsuka K, Nakamura S. Analysis of molecular alterations in left- and right-sided
colorectal carcinomas reveals distinct pathways of carcinogenesis: proposal for new molecular profile of colorectal carcinomas. J Mol Diagn