Developing a clinically relevant ovarian cancer model incorporating surgical cytoreduction to evaluate treatment of micro-metastatic disease

Mouse models of ovarian cancer commonly involve tumor cell transfer into the peritoneal cavity to establish metastatic disease. However, once disease has become established and disseminated through the abdomen, surgical cytoreduction in mice is not feasible. We set out to develop an ovarian cancer model amenable to surgical cytoreduction to mimic clinical treatment paradigms. Late-stage primary and metastatic tumors isolated from 3 ID8-VEGF mice (tumor cells injected under the ovarian bursa) were analyzed.