Ovarian cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women. The disease is frequently diagnosed at later stages, with tumors detected throughout the peritoneal cavity. Approximately 90% of ovarian tumors arise from ovarian surface epithelial cells . Human and mouse ovarian surface epithelial cells (OSE) have been isolated and are used to develop ovarian cancer models. These models typically involve injection of the human/mouse OSE cells subcutaneously, intraperitoneally or orthotopically into immune deficient mice. A common drawback to these models is the absence of an intact immune system in the host mice. In 2000, an immune-competent syngeneic mouse model for ovarian cancer was reported . Mouse ovarian surface epithelial cells (MOSEC) isolated from C57BL/6 mice were found to spontaneously transform into malignant tumorigenic cells following prolonged passages in vitro . Late passage MOSEC lost the classical "cobblestone" contact-inhibited in vitro properties reminiscent of normal epithelial cells and instead grew as multi-layered cell clusters indicative of transformed cells. Intraperitoneal injection of late passaged MOSEC into athymic and normal, immune-intact, syngeneic C57BL/6 mice gave rise to tumors throughout the abdominal cavity like those observed in women with Stage III and IV cancer . MOSEC are thus useful syngeneic mouse models to study the role of the immune system in the establishment and progression of ovarian cancer.
Synonyms: ID-8, ID8/MOSEC