Establishing Orthotopic Xenograft Glioblastoma Models for Use in Preclinical Development

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common, aggressive and lethal type of brain tumor, characterized by an aggressive, heterogenic and highly angiogenic behavior. Establishing mice models that mimic the etiology, biology and histopathology of human glioblastomas is of extreme importance, as they are a crucial tool to understand the tumor initiation, formation, angiogenesis, progression and metastasis. Orthotopic xenograft mice models remain in the frontline of neuro-oncology as an experimental system to identify novel therapeutic targets and to determine the efficacy of different therapeutic agents and/or nanosystems. The present chapter describes a protocol for establishing brain tumor xenografts in mice following a single injection of glioblastoma cells.