Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Color-coding cancer and stromal cells with genetic reporters in a patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) model of pancreatic cancer enhances fluorescence-guided surgery

Subjects

Abstract

Precise fluorescence-guided surgery (FGS) for pancreatic cancer has the potential to greatly improve the outcome in this recalcitrant disease. To achieve this goal, we have used genetic reporters to color code cancer and stroma cells in a patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) model. The telomerase-dependent green fluorescent protein (GFP)-containing adenovirus OBP-401 was used to label the cancer cells of a pancreatic cancer PDOX. The PDOX was previously grown in a red fluorescent protein (RFP) transgenic mouse that stably labeled the PDOX stroma cells bright red. The color-coded PDOX model enabled FGS to completely resect the pancreatic tumors including stroma. Dual-colored FGS significantly prevented local recurrence, which bright-light surgery or single-color FGS could not. FGS, with color-coded cancer and stroma cells has important potential for improving the outcome of recalcitrant-cancer surgery.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

BLS:

bright-light surgery

FGS:

fluorescent-guided surgery

GFP:

green fluorescent protein

PDOX:

patient-derived orthotopic xenograft

RFP:

red fluorescent protein.

References

  1. Troyan SL, Kianzad V, Gibbs-Strauss SL, Gioux S, Matsui A, Oketokoun R et al. The FLARE intraoperative near-infrared fluorescence imaging system: a first-in-human clinical trial in breast cancer sentinel lymph node mapping. Ann Surg Oncol 2009; 16: 2943–2952.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Stummer W, Pichlmeier U, Meinel T, Wiestler OD, Zanella F, Reulen HJ et al. Fluorescence-guided surgery with 5-aminolevulinic acid for resection of malignant glioma: a randomised controlled multicentre phase III trial. Lancet Oncol 2006; 7: 392–401.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Bouvet M, Hoffman RM . Glowing tumors make for better detection and resection. Sci Transl Med 2011; 3: 110sf10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. McElroy M, Kaushal S, Luiken GA, Talamini MA, Moossa AR, Hoffman RM et al. Imaging of primary and metastatic pancreatic cancer using a fluorophore-conjugated anti-CA19-9 antibody for surgical navigation. World J Surg 2008; 32: 1057–1066.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Metildi CA, Kaushal S, Lee C, Hardamon CR, Snyder CS, Luiken GA et al. An LED light source and novel fluorophore combinations improve fluorescence laparoscopic detection of metastatic pancreatic cancer in orthotopic mouse models. J Am Coll Surg 2012; 214: 997–1007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Metildi CA, Kaushal S, Hardamon CR, Snyder CS, Pu M, Messer KS et al. Fluorescence-guided surgery allows for more complete resection of pancreatic cancer, resulting in longer disease-free survival compared with standard surgery in orthotopic mouse models. J Am Coll Surg 2012; 215: 126–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Metildi CA, Kaushal S, Snyder CS, Hoffman RM, Bouvet M . Fluorescence-guided surgery of human colon cancer increases complete resection resulting in cures in an orthotopic nude mouse model. J Surg Res 2013; 179: 87–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Metildi CA, Hoffman RM, Bouvet M . Fluorescence-guided surgery and fluorescence laporascopy for gastrointestinal cancers in clinically-relevant mouse models. Gastroenterol Res Pract 2013; 2013: Article ID 290634.

  9. Metildi CA, Tang CM, Kaushal S, Leonard SY, Magistri P, Tran Cao HS et al. In vivo fluorescence imaging of gastrointestinal stromal tumors using fluorophore-conjugated anti-KIT antibody. Ann Surg Oncol 2013; Suppl 3: 693–700.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Metildi CA, Kaushal S, Pu M, Messer KA, Luiken GA, Moossa AR et al. Fluorescence-guided surgery with a fluorophore-conjugated antibody to carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), that highlights the tumor, improves surgical resection and increases survival in orthotopic mouse models of human pancreatic cancer. Ann Surg Oncol 2014; 21: 1405–1411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Metildi CA, Kaushal S, Luiken GA, Talamini MA, Hoffman RM, Bouvet M . Fluorescently-labeled chimeric anti-CEA antibody improves detection and resection of human colon cancer in a patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) nude mouse model. J Surg Oncol 2014; 109: 451–458.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Metildi CA, Kaushal S, Luiken GA, Hoffman RM, Bouvet M . Advantages of fluorescence-guided laparoscopic surgery of pancreatic cancer labeled with fluorescent anti-carcinoembryonic antigen antibodies in an orthotopic mouse model. J Am Coll Surg 2014; 219: 132–141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Kishimoto H, Zhao M, Hayashi K, Urata Y, Tanaka N, Fujiwara T et al. In vivo internal tumor illumination by telomerase-dependent adenoviral GFP for precise surgical navigation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2009; 106: 14514–14517.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Kishimoto H, Aki R, Urata Y, Bouvet M, Momiyama M, Tanaka N et al. Tumor-selective, adenoviral-mediated GFP genetic labeling of human cancer in the live mouse reports future recurrence after resection. Cell Cycle 2011; 10: 2737–2741.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Yano S, Miwa S, Kishimoto H, Uehara F, Tazawa H, Toneri M et al. Targeting tumors with a killer-reporter adenovirus for curative fluorescence-guided surgery of soft-tissue sarcoma. Oncotarget. (in press).

  16. Yano S, Miwa S, Kishimoto H, Toneri M, Hiroshima Y, Yamamoto M et al. Curative fluorescence-guided surgery of highly-invasive cancer selectively labeled with a killer-reporter adenovirus. Mol Ther. (in press).

  17. Suetsugu A, Katz M, Fleming J, Truty M, Thomas R, Moriwaki H et al. Multi-color palette of fluorescent proteins for imaging the tumor microenvironment of orthotopic tumorgraft mouse models of clinical pancreatic cancer specimens. J Cell Biochem 2012; 113: 2290–2295.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Suetsugu A, Katz M, Fleming J, Truty M, Thomas R, Saji S et al. Non-invasive fluorescent-protein imaging of orthotopic pancreatic-cancer-patient tumorgraft progression in nude mice. Anticancer Res 2012; 32: 3063–3068.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Yang M, Reynoso J, Bouvet M, Hoffman RM . A transgenic red fluorescent protein-expressing nude mouse for color-coded imaging of the tumor microenvironment. J Cell Biochem 2009; 106: 279–284.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Kim MP, Evans DB, Wang H, Abbruzzese JL, Fleming JB, Gallick GE . Generation of orthotopic and heterotopic human pancreatic cancer xenografts in immunodeficient mice. Nat Protoc 2009; 4: 1670–1680.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Kim MP, Truty MJ, Choi W, Kang Y, Chopin-Lally X, Gallick GE et al. Molecular profiling of direct xenograft tumors established from human pancreatic adenocarcinoma after neoadjuvant therapy. Ann Surg Oncol 2011; 19 (Suppl 3): S395–S403.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Fu X, Guadagni F, Hoffman RM . A metastatic nude-mouse model of human pancreatic cancer constructedorthotopically from histologically intact patient specimens. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1992; 89: 5645–5649.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Hoffman RM . Orthotopic metastatic mouse models for anticancer drug discovery and evaluation: a bridge to the clinic. Invest New Drugs 1999; 17: 343–359.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Bouvet M, Yang M, Nardin S, Wang X, Jiang P, Baranov E et al. Chronologically-specific metastatic targeting of human pancreatic tumors in orthotopic models. Clin Exp Metastasis 2000; 18: 213–218.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Bouvet M, Wang J-W, Nardin SR, Nassirpour R, Yang M, Baranov E et al. Real-time optical imaging of primary tumor growth and multiple metastatic events in a pancreatic cancer orthotopic model. Cancer Res 2002; 62: 1534–1540.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Katz MH, Takimoto S, Spivack D, Moossa AR, Hoffman RM, Bouvet M . A novel red fluorescent protein orthotopic pancreatic cancer model for the preclinical evaluation of chemotherapeutics. J Surg Res 2003; 113: 151–160.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Yang M, Jiang P, Hoffman RM . Whole-body subcellular multicolor imaging of tumor-host interaction and drug response in real time. Cancer Res 2007; 67: 5195–5200.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Uchugonova A, Zhao M, Weinigel M, Zhang Y, Bouvet M, Hoffman RM et al. Multiphoton tomography visualizes collagen fibers in the tumor microenvironment that maintain cancer-cell anchorage and shape. J Cell Biochem 2013; 114: 99–102.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Yamauchi K, Yang M, Jiang P, Xu M, Yamamoto N, Tsuchiya H et al. Development of real-time subcellular dynamic multicolor imaging of cancer cell trafficking in live mice with a variable-magnification whole-mouse imaging system. Cancer Res 2006; 66: 4208–4214.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Hiroshima Y, Maawy A, Sato S, Murakami T, Uehara F, Miwa S et al. Hand-held high-resolution fluorescence imaging system for fluorescence-guided surgery of patient and cell-line pancreatic tumors growing orthotopically in nude mice. J Surg Res 2014; 187: 510–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Suetsugu A, Katz M, Fleming J, Truty M, Thomas R, Saji S et al. Imageable fluorescent metastasis resulting in transgenic GFP mice orthotopically implanted with human-patient primary pancreatic cancer specimens. Anticancer Res 2012; 32: 1175–1180.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by the National Cancer Institute grant CA132971 and CA142669. This study was also supported in part by grants-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan, and grants from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japan.

Author Contributions

SY, YH and AM performed the experiments. SY and RMH wrote the paper. All the authors analyzed the data.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R M Hoffman.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

YU is the President and CEO of Oncolys BioPharma, the manufacturer of OBP-401 (Telomescan). HT and TF are consultants of Oncolys BioPharma. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

This paper is dedicated to the memory of AR Moossa, MD.

Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on Cancer Gene Therapy website

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yano, S., Hiroshima, Y., Maawy, A. et al. Color-coding cancer and stromal cells with genetic reporters in a patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) model of pancreatic cancer enhances fluorescence-guided surgery. Cancer Gene Ther 22, 344–350 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/cgt.2015.26

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/cgt.2015.26

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links