{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T11:41:19Z","timestamp":1787312479508,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,1]],"date-time":"2020-08-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1596240000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005010","name":"Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["9962"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["9962"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005010","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cancers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive tumor of the pleural lining that is usually identified at advanced stages and resistant to current therapies. Appropriate pre-clinical mouse tumor models are of pivotal importance to study its biology. Usually, tumor cells have been injected intraperitoneally or subcutaneously. Using three available murine mesothelioma cell lines with different histotypes (sarcomatoid, biphasic, epithelioid), we have set up a simplified model of in vivo growth orthotopically by inoculating tumor cells directly in the thorax with a minimally invasive procedure. Mesothelioma tumors grew along the pleura and spread on the superficial areas of the lungs, but no masses were found outside the thoracic cavity. As observed in human MPM, tumors were highly infiltrated by macrophages and T cells. The luciferase-expressing cells can be visualized in vivo by bioluminescent optical imaging to precisely quantify tumor growth over time. Notably, the bioluminescence signal detected in vivo correctly matched the tumor burden quantified with classical histology. In contrast, the subcutaneous or intraperitoneal growth of these mesothelioma cells was considered either non-representative of the human disease or unreliable to precisely quantify tumor load. Our non-invasive in vivo model of mesothelioma is simple and reproducible, and it reliably recapitulates the human disease.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers12082136","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,3]],"date-time":"2020-08-03T06:16:47Z","timestamp":1596435407000},"page":"2136","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Optimization of a Luciferase-Expressing Non-Invasive Intrapleural Model of Malignant Mesothelioma in Immunocompetent Mice"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0107-1401","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elisabeth","family":"Digifico","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Cellular Immunology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center - IRCCS -, Via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano (MI), Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1922-0818","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marco","family":"Erreni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Advanced Optical Microscopy, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center - IRCCS -, Via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano (MI), Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4480-3481","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Federico Simone","family":"Colombo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center - IRCCS -, Via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano (MI), Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Camilla","family":"Recordati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, 26900 Lodi, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Roberta","family":"Migliore","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Cellular Immunology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center - IRCCS -, Via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano (MI), Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Roberta","family":"Frapolli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oncology, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research - IRCCS -, 20156 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maurizio","family":"D\u2019Incalci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oncology, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research - IRCCS -, 20156 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6986-9594","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cristina","family":"Belgiovine","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Cellular Immunology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center - IRCCS -, Via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano (MI), Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paola","family":"Allavena","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Cellular Immunology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center - IRCCS -, Via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano (MI), Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"397","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(05)67025-0","article-title":"Malignant mesothelioma","volume":"366","author":"Robinson","year":"2005","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"402","DOI":"10.3322\/caac.21572","article-title":"Mesothelioma: Scientific clues for prevention, diagnosis, and therapy","volume":"69","author":"Carbone","year":"2019","journal-title":"CA Cancer J. 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