Gene expression profiling of melanoma cells following intracardiac injection in NOD-SCID mice: a comprehensive in vivo model

To evaluate the in vivo metastatic activity of five different melanoma cell lines (LCP, LCM, WM266, SKMel28 and A375), we completed intra-cardiac injection of 1x106 luminescent cells in NOD-SCID mice. All melanoma cell lines demonstrated a metastatic behaviour following intra-cardiac injection with a variable attitude to produce bone and visceral metastasis. Mice injected with LCP, LCM and WM266 showed a lower total metastatic tumor burden and increased survival (low metastatic) as compared to A375 and SK-Mel28 (high metastatic). Melanoma cell lines were profiled for gene expression (RNAseq) of 118 genes notably involved in cancer progression and metastasis.