The Athymic Animal &Xenograft Core Facility includes two sites, one at Case and one at the Taussig Cancer Center. The core is directed by Dr. Lili Liu and co-directed by Dr. Daniel Lindner, who oversees the Taussig facility. The core provides a pathogen-free environment for breeding and housing athymic immune deficient mice and rats for preclinical studies. A breeding colony for nude mice (NCR nu/nu) has been established to provide animals to investigators without quarantine. Investigators can also purchase other immune-deficient classes of animals, such as SCID mice, Rag 2 mice and nude rats, from external vendors and have them housed in the core for subsequent experiments after a quarantine period. Investigators use mice in the facility for studies of human tumor xenografts to test anticancer drug effects on syngeneic murine tumor implants, to determine species-specific effect of cytokines and evaluate cytotoxic T cell (CTL) response to tumor-associated antigens;to test oncogenicity of specific tumor genes on human tumor xenografts;and to perform small animal imaging to detect cancer size and location, as well as anticancer drug distribution and pharmacokinetic study in vivo. The facility provides support services for maintaining xenografts of human cancers in mouse model systems, as well as training and assistance to Cancer Center investigators;equipment and services for performing various orthotopic or ectopic injections;surgical expertise for reversible procedures;and a high-containment and safe environment for investigators using Pharmaceuticals and anticancer agents in these animal model systems. The facility helps in evaluation of new pharmacologic agents by providing data on tumor growth, metastasis, angiogenesis, and gene expression. The facility also provides consultation services to assist the investigator in all aspects of animal tumor model development.
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