Increase of spontaneous lung metastasis of small cell lung cancer in the absence of Natural Killer cells in Pfp/Rag2 double knock out mice

Introduction: Most patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) suffer from extensive disease and early metastatic spread, with an unimproved poor prognosis. The mechanisms of metastatic spread are still poorly understood. Earlier animal models of SCLC were of limited clinical value, as the process of metastasis was inefficient and had to be initialized by i.v. injection of human SCLC cells (dissemination) or orthotopic transplantation. The aim of this study was to develop a xenograft mouse model of spontaneous SCLC metastasis, and to test different SCLC cell lines in this system. Primary SCLC growth and metastat…