Combined Use of Tail Vein Metastasis Assays and Real-Time In Vivo Imaging to Quantify Breast Cancer Metastatic Colonization and Burden in the Lungs

Our protocol can be used to quickly and easily test the role of any candidate gene in metastatic colonization and growth. The protocol also allows realtime monitoring of metastasis, formation, and growth, as well as quantification of metastasis number and size in the same animals without the need for resectioning or histological staining. Plate four T1 cells at 150, 000 cells per well in a 12-well plate in complete growth media.

Incubate at 37 degrees Celsius 5%carbon dioxide overnight. The next day, aspirate the growth media from the cells. Add 500 microliters of luciferase viral supernatant and 500 microliters of fluorescent protein viral supernatant to simultaneously infect the cells with both the luciferase and fluorescent protein viral supernatants.