Experimental cancer chemotherapy using A liver metastatic model of human colon cancer transplanted into the spleen of severe combined immunodeficient mice

We have developed a liver metastatic model of human colon cancer using severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice. Liver metastases were observed in all the SCID mice on day 28 after intrasplenic injection with 5 × 10⁶ dissociated tumor cells of COL‐2‐JCK, a human colon cancer strain serially transplanted in nude mice. When this model was applied for chemotherapeutic experiments, 5‐fluorouracil (5‐FU) demonstrated significant antitumor effects in preventing liver metastases, whereas the efficacy of 5‐FU was limited in the currently used sc‐ip chemosensitivity assay in nude mice. When the human LDH‐5 isozyme was evaluated in the homogenized metastatic liver tissue of SCID mice, a good correlation was obtained between the liver tumor weights and LDH‐5 isozyme, suggesting that it could be a promising quantitative indicator for metastases. This model would be useful for further studies on the treatment of liver metastases of colon cancer. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.