National Cancer Institute - Cancer.gov

Center for Advanced Preclinical Research: Serous Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Genetically Engineered Mouse (GEM) Model

  • Developed in house
    Scan showing serous epithelial ovarian carcinoma in a genetically engineered mouse model
    Scan showing SEOC in a GEM model
  • Genetic aberrations:
    • Inactivation of Rb tumor suppression (via K18-T121 transgene)
    • Tp53 loss or mutation (R172H)
    • Brca1 or Brca2 loss
  • Induction by injection of adenovirus expressing Cre recombinase under the ovarian bursa
  • Pathology:
    • Serous epithelial ovarian cancer (SEOC)
    • Peritoneal carcinomatosis
    • Distal metastases (lung, liver)
    • Ascites
  • Latency: 8-12 months (high grade tumor)
  • Metabolomic and gene expression profile aligns with human SEOC
  • Pertubation of Rb, p53 and Brca1 or Brca2 cooperate in inducing metastatic serous epithelial ovarian cancer (Szabova et al., Cancer Research 2012)

Orthotopic Allograft Model

Scan showing serous epithelial ovarian cancer in an orthotopic allograft mouse model
Scan showing SEOC in an orthotopic allograft mouse model
  • Derived from genetically engineered mouse ovarian tumors
  • Ovarian tumor transplant to wild-type recipient mice
  • Genetic aberrations:
    • Inactivation of Rb tumor suppression (via K18-T121 transgene)
    • Tp53 loss or mutation (R172H)
    • Bra1 or Brca2 loss
  • Pathology:
    • Serous epithelial ovarian cancer (SEOC)
    • Peritoneal carcinomatosis
    • Distal metastases (lung, liver)
    • Ascites
  • Latency: 1-3 months
  • Molecular profile aligns with human SEOC
  • Ultrasound imaging
  • Differential response to therapeutics in Brca1-deficient versus Brca1 wild-type tumors
  • Pathway-specific engineered mouse allograft models functionally recapitulate human serous epithelial ovarian cancer (Szabova et al., PloS One 2014)