Establishment of a Fluorescent Implantation Metastasis Model of Bladder Cancer and Real-time Microscopic Detection in Nude Mice

Objective: To establish a fluorescent implantation metastasis model of bladder carcinoma with high metastaticpotential in nude mice and observe development and metastasis.
Methods: Human bladder cancer EJ cells withhigh invasive ability were screened and transfected with GFP plasmid to screen stable enhanced GFP-expressingclones instilled into the bladders of nude mice. Subsequent growth, invasion, and metastasis of the implantedtumors were observed and evaluated with a whole-body fluorescence optical imaging system.
Results: Thetransfected bladder cancer EJ cells stably and efficiently expressed EGFP. The growth, invasion and metastasisof the implant bladder tumor were readily observed and accurately evaluated by fluorescent microscopy. Inthe bladders of nude mice, the rates of EGFP expression detected by flow cytometry at weeks 1-4 were 22.6%,46.7%, 62.3% and 72.7%, respectively, with clear increase over time.
Conclusion: GFP-labeled bladder cancerEJ cells display green fluorescence under fluorescent microscopy and show stable GFP expression. The model willprovide a simple and reliable means for studying the mechanism of implantation metastasis of human bladdercancers in vivo.