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) xeno-grafts and to define human leukocyte antigen (HLA), melanoma-associated antigen (MAGE)-A3, 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/SCID) 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.