Intratibial Osteosarcoma Cell Injection to Generate Orthotopic Osteosarcoma and Lung Metastasis Mouse Models

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone cancer in children and adolescents, with lungs as the most common metastatic site. The five-year survival rate of osteosarcoma patients with pulmonary metastasis is less than 30%.Therefore, the utilization of mouse models mimicking the osteosarcoma development in humans is of great significance for understanding the fundamental mechanism of osteosarcoma carcinogenesis and pulmonary metastasis to develop novel therapeutics. Here, detailed procedures are reported to generate the primary osteosarcoma and pulmonary metastasis mouse models via intratibia injection of osteosarcoma cells. Combined with the bioluminescence or X-ray live imaging system, these living mouse models are utilized to monitor and quantify osteosarcoma growth and metastasis. To establish this model, a basement membrane matrix containing osteosarcoma cells was loaded in a micro-volume syringe and injected into one tibia of each athymic mouse after being anesthetized. The mice were sacrificed when the primary osteosarcoma reached the size limitation in the IACUC-approved protocol. The legs bearing osteosarcoma and the lungs with metastasis lesions were separated. These models are characterized by a short incubation period, rapid growth, severe lesions, and sensitivity in monitoring the development of primary and pulmonary metastatic lesions. Therefore, these are ideal models for exploring the functions and mechanisms of specific factors in osteosarcoma carcinogenesis and pulmonary metastasis, the tumor microenvironment, and evaluating the therapeutic efficacy in vivo.