Development and immunophenotyping of squamous cell carcinoma xenografts: Tools for translational immunology

Objectives/Hypothesis: The objectives of this study were to delineate methods for the development of primary squamous cell carcinoma (SCCHN) xenografts and to define human leukocyte antigen (HLA), melanoma-associated antigen (MAGE)-AS, and human papilloma virus (HPV) 16 antigenic expression in resultant cellular products. Study Design: Prospective experimental model. Methods: Freshly isolated SCCHN xenografts were established in nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD/SCED) mice using a variety of methods. Resultant tumors were analyzed for expression patterns of HLA-A, MAGE-A3, and HPV 16. Appropriate controls were included to ensure the presence of human RNA Results: Three xenografts were successfully established and passaged in vivo. Characterization of the resultant products revealed that one was positive for HLA-A2 at both the DNA and protein levels. One of the tumor lines expressed MAGE-A3, whereas none expressed HPV 16. Conclusions: Freshly isolated SCCHN can be used to generate primary xenografts. Characterization of select patterns of protein expression in established xenografts is a precursor to the development of a mouse model for SCCHN using tumor bearing animals reconstituted with autologous patient leukocytes.