Tumor growth kinetics of subcutaneously implanted Lewis Lung carcinoma cells

Please cite
Benzekry, S., Lamont, C., Beheshti, A., Tracz, A., Ebos, J. M. L., Hlatky, L., & Hahnfeldt, P. (2014). Classical mathematical models for description and prediction of experimental tumor growth. PLoS Computational Biology, 10(8), e1003800. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003800

Cell culture
Murine Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells, originally derived from a spontaneous tumor in a C57BL/6 mouse [1], were obtained from American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA). 

Tumor injections
For the subcutaneous mouse syngeneic lung tumor model, C57BL/6 male mice with an average lifespan of 878 days were used [2]. At time of injection mice were 6 to 8 weeks old (Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine). Subcutaneous injections of 10⁶ LLC cells in 0.2 ml phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) were performed on the caudal half of the back in anesthetized mice.

Tumor measurements
Tumor size was measured regularly with calipers to a maximum of 1.5 cm³ for the lung data set. Largest (L) and smallest (w) diameters were measured subcutaneously using calipers and the formula V = \(\frac{\pi}{6}w^2 L\) was then used to compute the volume (ellipsoid). Volumes ranged 14–1492 mm³ over time spans from 4 to 22 days for the lung tumor model (two experiments of 10 animals each).

[1] Bertram JS, Janik P (1980) Establishment of a cloned line of Lewis Lung Carcinoma cells adapted to cell culture. Cancer Lett 11: 63–73. Available: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7226139. Accessed 9 July 2013.

[2] Kunstyr I, Leuenberger HG (1975) Gerontological data of C57BL/6J mice. I. Sex differences in survival curves. J Gerontol 30: 157–162. Available: http:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1123533. Accessed 9 July 2013.