Case Studies
Problem
Researchers commonly face challenges with optimal therapeutic dosing as well as blood sampling due to injection technique complexity involved in animal studies. Moreover, oncology investigators face additional challenges with tumor implantation injections and must rely on extremely skilled personnel for expected outcomes. Overall, this introduces inefficiencies, variability, and strain on resources for a wide range of in vivo research applications.
Pain – 3Rs challenges, increased costs, and animal usage due to procedural/surgical inefficiencies.
Promise – Consistent, reliable success of experiments, optimal costs, time given back so technicians can focus on other study-related tasks.
Proof – Vascular catheterization of animals offers an efficient and consistent solution to dosing and injection inconsistencies as well as personnel sourcing challenges. Our expertise ensures high quality surgical models, helps alleviate distress to animals due to repeated injections/handling, and reduces requirements for skilled labor.
Traditional Process
- Investigators buy immunodeficient mice (immunodeficient and immunocompetent) from Charles River for oncology research.
- Researchers inject tumor cells and PDX fragments to create oncology models to suit their experimental requirements.
- Test efficacy of agents/therapeutic candidates on tumors. About 50% of test agents involve intravenous (IV) administration.
- IV administration can be done by tail vein injections – this requires experienced and skilled staff and time. Performing repeated or continuous dosing can be difficult for personnel as well as animals. Tail vein integrity is a concern and dosing routes may need to be switched in the middle of the study.
- Vascular catheterization surgery requires extensive skills, experience, and expertise in survival surgical procedures.
How We Can Help
Study-ready vascular catheterized immunodeficient mice will mitigate the need for experienced and skilled staff for tail vein injections or trained surgical staff to perform surgeries.
Example Case 1 - A client was using the traditional process of repeated injections which led to experimental inconsistencies ultimately resulting in study failure. We provided several cohorts of SCID Beige female mice with jugular vein catheter with transcutaneous button (JVC/VAB). They used our surgerized mice to create oncology tumor models and test the efficacy of their therapeutic agent in a 6-8 week long study leading to study success.
Example Case 2 - A pharmaceutical company used several cohorts of CB17 SCID female mice with jugular vein catheter with transcutaneous button (JVC/VAB). The client also used the model for oncology research and continues to utilize it for their study needs. They used the model for up to 23 weeks and plan to continue to use this model.
Example Case 3 - A client’s research involved pancreatic cancer (one with cells and one with PDXs). They were having issues with delivery by tail vein injections. They were using the traditional process of repeated injections causing experimental inconsistencies resulting in study failure. The tumors/cells need to grow for a week before starting a 5-week treatment regimen. We provided several cohorts of Athymic Nude female mice with jugular vein catheter with transcutaneous button (JVC/VAB) to the client and they successfully used our mice in their pancreatic cancer research.
Example Case 4 - A drug discovery company using triple immunodeficient mice to advance their work in oncology therapeutics successfully adopted the use of our NCG female mice with jugular vein catheter with transcutaneous button (JVC/VAB). They were able to use this model to research various therapeutics involving different dosing paradigms including continuous infusion once or twice a week. The model supported study needs for 10 weeks (study end point) and they plan to continue to use this model to advance their work in oncology.
Additional potential application benefits of surgical models in oncology research:
- Consistent and reliable test article delivery to support extended/short spaced dosing schedules that can over time compromise tail tissue integrity due to repeated puncture, introducing challenges to even the most proficient technical hands.
- Allows for better ease of delivery of viscous formulations that can introduce challenges at the level of tail vein delivery.
- Introduces the ability to perform true slow dosing using the infusion pump, massively outperforming manual delivery.
Did You Know We Deliver Drug Discovery Services from Day One?
Charles River offers a range of translational oncology studies, including in vitro assays and in vivo models, that mirror human cancers. Whether you want to test your therapy in a cell biology assay consisting of the elements of the tumor microenvironment or in models using real patient tissue, we can help.
Learn More
