Metastatic disease accounts for the majority of cancer-related mortalities. Genes and proteins involved in metastasis have become potential therapeutic targets to tumor progression. MIR has created a number of efficient and reproducible models of metastasis by in vivo serial passage with high take rates. MRI, CT and Bioluminescence technologies provide rapid, non-invasive, highly efficient and accurate determination of drug response in these metestatic models. These models have been evaluated for reproducible growth characteristics in vivo and are available for efficacy testing.

A list of MIR's available metastatic tumor models can be found by clicking on the link below. MIR is continuing its efforts to develop new models of metastasis. If you have a model you are interested in developing for your research, please let us know.

Click here for a list of available metastatic models and descriptions

A cells environment and the signals the cell receives from its environment can alter the characteristics of that cell. In short, the context the cell is in matters. For this reason, there has been a recent shift in cancer drug discovery to using orthotopic and transgenic tumors to better model human diseases in animals. The disadvantage in these model systems is that the tumors can be difficult to track and measure. Traditional methods require the sacrifice large cohorts of animals at different time points to track tumor burder and metastatic spread. Recent advances in imaging technology and methods now allow for the non-invasive, real-time imaging of orthotopic tumors and metastases using fewer animals and with much greater speed than traditional methods. MIR employs preclinical MRI, CT, PET, fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging to track orthotopic tumors. Imaging technologies can have high throughput, high resolution and can be used to obtain function and anatomical data. Please contact MIR for more information.