Syngeneic Mouse Models

Custom-made solutions and validated tumor models to accelerate your oncology research

Syngeneic tumor models are an essential part of preclinical immunotherapy research. But with limited data and without an exact-match tumor model your research aspirations can become stunted. Melior creates customized models and experiments that meet your needs. When you partner with Melior, you can confidently and efficiently perform in vivo efficacy evaluations of potential cancer therapies. These include targeted therapy, cytotoxic drugs, antibody therapies, checkpoint inhibitors, and gene therapies. Secure early access to the right model and get data that pushes your oncology R&D forward.

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Confidently test your immunotherapeutic agents and combination therapies with syngeneic tumor models

Because syngeneic mouse tumors are immunologically compatible with their host, tumor transplantation does not provoke an immune response apart from potential tumor-specific mediated responses. Instead, tumors grow within an intact immune system. This system provides valuable models for studying therapies that act on the host immune system. With Melior’s syngeneic mouse tumor models, you can develop cancer therapies that work together with the immune system to reduce and reverse tumor growth, as with checkpoint inhibitors.

Advantages of using syngeneic tumor models

  • Explore cancer immunotherapies: Get relevant data and better understand the mechanisms of action of new therapeutics targeting immune cell interactions.
  • Leverage models with fully competent immunity: Enable studies on the interaction between tumor cells, immune cells, microenvironment, and microbiome.
  • Benefit from simple, cost-saving solutions: Generate reliable results with animals inherently less expensive than xenograft models.

Advance your discoveries with our validated syngeneic mouse models

Start your research on the right track by leveraging our expertise and outsourcing your in vivo experiments. Test your immunotherapeutic agents and combination therapies in any of our validated syngeneic tumor models.

Syngeneic Tumor Models

Disease Cell line Strain Duration Models Applications
Breast carcinoma EMT6 BALB 3 – 4 weeks Subcutaneous Orthotopic MFP Metastatic Immunotherapy
Chemotherapy
Colon Carcinoma CT26
(CT26.WT)		 BALB 3 – 4 weeks Subcutaneous Orthotopic Cecum Metastatic Immunotherapy
Chemotherapy
Fibrosarcoma WEHI164 BALB/c 3 – 4 weeks Subcutaneous Immunotherapy Chemotherapy
Leukemia L1210 DBA/2 3 – 4 weeks Intravenous Intraperitoneal Subcutaneous Immunotherapy Chemotherapy
Lewis Lung Carcinoma LLC
(LL/2)		 C57Bl/6 3 – 4 weeks Subcutaneous Intravenous Chemotherapy
Hepatoma Hepa 1-6 C57L/J 5 – 6 weeks Subcutaneous Orthotopic liver Immunotherapy Chemotherapy
Melanoma B16F10 C57Bl/6 3 – 4 weeks Intradermal Subcutaneous Metastatic Immunotherapy
Chemotherapy

Don’t see what you’re looking for? Contact us for information on other validated models or to discuss a custom solution.

Enhance your study findings with custom services and tools

Seamlessly integrate our additional, bespoke services, such as IVIS imaging, PK studies, IHC, and more, to get the most out of your study.

Customize your project with us
  • We chose Melior Discovery because they were responsive and cost effective.  We are staying with them as a chosen scientific partner because of their thoughtful scientific input to experimental design and attention to detail.  Their expertise and flexibility allowed us to quickly adapt the study design and evaluate additional outcome measures to pursue unexpected activity.

    Sridharan Rajamani, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist

    Gilead Sciences
  • I have been working with Melior on a number of projects over the course of a few years now.  They have been a great partner throughout this time.  The scientists whom I have worked with have been great problem-solvers and were customer focused

    Jay Lichter

    Avalon Ventures
  • [We] have been impressed with [Melior’s] ability to rapidly and effectively evaluate compounds in animal models…as we strive to identify compounds to ameliorate the devastating symptoms of Rett,

    Monica Coenraads, Executive Director

    Rett Syndrome Research Trust
  • Melior is more than just a service company.  Their experienced staff guided us in our drug development efforts.  We consider Melior an extension of our own research team.

    Josh Schultz

    Carolus Therapeutics
  • Addex Therapeutics has been collaborating with Melior Discovery for more than a year. The studies performed at Melior are always carefully planned and skilfully executed while the progress of the project is well-tracked and communicated to the customer. On several occasions, when testing our compounds in a new in vivo assay, we relied on Melior's scientists in their guidance and advice. We have been particularly pleased with a series of experiments involving assessment of compounds' profiles in the rat sleep/wake EEG. This approach, that has a translational relevance, offered a sensitive measure of a compound's efficacy and side-effects

    Mikhail Kalinichev, Ph.D., Associate Research Director

    Addex Therapeutics
  • Having worked with Melior quite extensively over the past several years, we find the team to be highly knowledgeable, responsive and adaptable to our needs. The overall process has been highly efficient and we are impressed by the quality of their reports

    Christopher Prior, Ph.D., CEO,

    PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals Inc.
  • …to evaluate our lead compound in an EEG-based sleep wake model. Melior’s very experienced team provided valuable insights and recommendations on study design, analysis and interpretation of the data. As a virtual company, Prexa relied on Melior to become an extension of our knowledge team and they met all our expectations

    Pat Baskin and Ev Graham

    Prexa Pharmaceuticals
  • State of-the-art Preclinical Pharmacology
    Melior provided State-of-the-art Preclinical Pharmacology Support for a period of nearly a year where a series of in vivo studies were completed on a weekly basis. The staff was extremely user-friendly and the operational processes were excellent. I can recommend Melior without reservation.

    Richard DiMarchi, PhD

    Cox Professor of Chemistry & Gil Chair in Biomolecular Sciences Indiana University, Department of Chemistry

Syngeneic models: the tool for developing cancer immunotherapies. Syngeneic model tumors are immunologically compatible with their host, and tumor transplantation does not provoke an immune response, apart from potential tumor-specific mediated responses. Benefit from a model with tumors grown in the presence of an intact immune system. To facilitate the study of cancer therapies that work together with the immune system to reduce and reverse tumor growth.

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor and Chemotherapy Validation in CT26.WT Tumor Model. 1 x106 CT26.WT mouse colon cancer cells were subcutaneously injected into the rear flank of Balb/c mice. Once mean tumor size reached 100-150mm3, mice were randomized into groups and treated with vehicle, anti-PD-1 antibody (12.5 mg/kg IP) once per week, or paclitaxel (20 mg/kg IP) once per week. Tumor growth volume was monitored at baseline and at days 4, 7 and 11, following initiation of treatment, using calipers. Both the anti-PD1 group and paclitaxel group showed significant difference compared with untreated group (both p<0.001; Data area mean ± SEM; n=6 for Vehicle and anti-PD-1; n=4 for paclitaxel).

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor and Chemotherapy Validation in WEHI164 Tumor Model. 1 x106 WEHI164 mouse fibrosarcoma cells were subcutaneously injected into the rear flank of Balb/c mice. Once mean tumor size reached ~150mm3, mice were randomized into groups and treated with vehicle anti-PD-1 antibody (12.5 mg/kg IP) once per week, or paclitaxel (20 mg/kg IP) once per week. Tumor growth volume was monitored at twice per week using calipers. Anti-PD1 significantly inhibited tumor growing. Both the anti-PD1 group and the paclitaxel group showed significant differences compared with the untreated group (both p<0.001; Data area mean ± SEM; n=5 for each group).

Get the data you need with customized experiments and expert advice.

Custom-tailored models for your unique research questions.

Reach your discoveries sooner with industry-leading 4-7 week lead times.

Decades worth of experience across a breadth of research areas.

Related Services and Solutions

Are syngeneic tumor models right for you?

Syngeneic mice are reliable models for developing immunotherapies and checkpoint inhibitors. But if your project requires human-derived tumors, we can provide fully customizable study designs to get you the data you need.

Let us help you find your perfect solution

Confidently translate your oncology research with human xenograft models

Access human-derived tumors in our xenograft models, with a wider range of cancer types and data that may be more readily translatable to human studies.

Test your cancer therapies with our human xenograft models

Screen immunotherapies across a range of tumor types with Immuno-theraTRACEⓇ

Test the therapeutic potential of your checkpoint inhibitors and other immune-modulating agents against hot and cold tumors in one oncology platform.

Find out more

Publications

Discover the impactful research that our products are facilitating. This selection of publications, authored by researchers like you, underscores our commitment to advancing cancer research and development.

Alimohammadi, R., Mahmoodi Chalbatani, G., Alimohammadi, M., Ghaffari-Nazari, H., Rahimi, A., Mortaz, E., … & Jalali, S. A. (2023). Dual blockage of both PD-L1 and CD47 enhances the therapeutic effect of oxaliplatin and FOLFOX in CT-26 mice tumor model. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 2472.

Burade, V., Bhowmick, S., Maiti, K., Zalawadia, R., Ruan, H., & Thennati, R. (2017). Lipodox®(generic doxorubicin hydrochloride liposome injection): in vivo efficacy and bioequivalence versus Caelyx®(doxorubicin hydrochloride liposome injection) in human mammary carcinoma (MX-1) xenograft and syngeneic fibrosarcoma (WEHI 164) mouse models. BMC cancer, 17, 1-12.

Holden, S. A., Emi, Y., Kakeji, Y., Northey, D., & Teicher, B. A. (1997). Host distribution and response to antitumor alkylating agents of EMT-6 tumor cells from subcutaneous tumor implants. Cancer chemotherapy and pharmacology, 40, 87-93.

Huh, J. E., Baek, Y. H., Lee, M. H., Choi, D. Y., Park, D. S., & Lee, J. D. (2010). Bee venom inhibits tumor angiogenesis and metastasis by inhibiting tyrosine phosphorylation of VEGFR-2 in LLC-tumor-bearing mice. Cancer letters, 292(1), 98-110.

Kimura, T., Kato, Y. U., Ozawa, Y., Kodama, K., Ito, J., Ichikawa, K., … & Nomoto, K. (2018). Immunomodulatory activity of lenvatinib contributes to antitumor activity in the Hepa1‐6 hepatocellular carcinoma model. Cancer science, 109(12), 3993-4002.

Saito, M., Fan, D., & Lachman, L. B. (1995). Antitumor effects of liposomal IL1α and TNFα against the pulmonary metastases of the B16F10 murine melanoma in syngeneic mice. Clinical & Experimental Metastasis, 13, 249-259.

Truebenbach, I., Kern, S., Loy, D. M., Höhn, M., Gorges, J., Kazmaier, U., & Wagner, E. (2019). Combination chemotherapy of L1210 tumors in mice with pretubulysin and methotrexate lipo-oligomer nanoparticles. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 16(6), 2405-2417.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the relevant advantages of subcutaneous and orthotopic models?

Standard subcutaneous models are an efficient choice for measuring tumor response to a new drug. This method involves implanting tumor cells into the flank of a mouse and monitoring growth. Tumors grow efficiently in this model. It allows for analyses such as drug efficacy and endpoint analyses, including survival, flow cytometry, expression analysis, histology, and more.

Orthotopic models, on the other hand, involve seeding tumor cell lines into the corresponding mouse tissue. This strategy assesses tumor development in a relevant tissue environment that mimics the disease process in humans. With orthotopic models, we can monitor and more accurately quantify primary tumor growth, metastatic activity, and response to therapy.

What is the syngeneic mouse model of lung cancer?

Syngeneic models of lung cancer use tumor cells that are syngeneic to the host; in other words, the tumor cells and the host come from the same species and share a similar genetic background. Typically used in murine (mouse) models, these tumor cells are derived from a mouse strain and are implanted into a mouse of the same strain. This approach allows researchers to study the interaction of lung cancer cells with an intact immune system.

One of the most popular and widely used syngeneic mouse models of lung cancer is the Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) model. The LLC model utilizes tumor cells from the lungs of a C57BL/6 mouse and is widely used owing to its immunocompetence, thorough characterizations, and consistent tumor growth rates.

What is the difference between transgenic and syngeneic mice?

Transgenic mice are genetically engineered to carry specific foreign genes, allowing researchers to study gene function, disease development, and genetic disease models. Whereas, syngeneic mouse models are genetically identical within their strain and not genetically modified, making them especially valuable in cancer research and immunology studies. The intact immune system of syngeneic mice makes them ideal for evaluating immunotherapies and understanding the tumor-immune system interactions, offering a controlled environment due to their genetic uniformity.