EMT-6 Syngeneic Breast Tumor Model

Test novel breast cancer therapies and advance your immuno-oncology research with EMT-6 syngeneic models.

Breast cancer is a widespread disease affecting millions of women worldwide. Between 2015 and 2020, an estimated 7.8 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer.

When you partner with Melior, you can leverage the EMT-6 syngeneic breast cancer mouse model to test novel therapies, evaluate their efficacy, and ultimately accelerate the development of effective immunotherapies for breast cancer.

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Current Breast Cancer Treatment Landscape

The primary treatments for breast cancer are surgery and radiation. Hormone receptor-positive receptor or HER2-positive breast cancers (80-85%) also have various pharmacological approaches to combat the disease. Tumors that are estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2 negative (triple negative breast cancer or TNBC) have limited treatment options and a more dire prognosis. Despite this, TNBC can still be responsive to chemotherapeutic approaches and, to a lesser extent, immunotherapy approaches such as checkpoint inhibition.

Due to high incidences and a significant proportion of refractory tumor types, improved pharmacological treatments for certain types of breast cancer are a medical necessity.

Melior’s breast cancer mouse models are an important tool to support scientists in achieving this goal.

Accelerate Your Immunotherapy Research with the EMT-6 Syngeneic Model

We developed our EMT-6 tumor model from murine mammary carcinoma derived from a transplanted hyperplastic alveolar nodule from a BALB/c mouse. This model can also investigate cytotoxic therapeutic candidates and immune-modulating agents such as checkpoint inhibitors. We developed the EMT-6 syngeneic breast cancer mouse model to complement our xenograft breast cancer model, which uses the human MCF-7 cell line.

The EMT-6 tumor model has a high frequency of tumor production with consistent growth rates. The model has been shown to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors, making it a valuable tool for studying immunotherapies. With its ability to reliably reproduce human disease characteristics, the EMT-6 syngeneic model is an invaluable tool for preclinical research in breast cancer. It has begun to pave the way for the development of new and effective treatments for this devastating disease.

Maximize Your Preclinical Success with EMT-6 Tumor Models for Breast Cancer

The EMT-6 syngeneic breast cancer mouse model offers several key benefits for preclinical drug development. These include:

  • Set up as subcutaneous or orthotopic (in mammary fat pad; MFP)
  • High tumor take rate and consistent tumor growth rates
  • Responsiveness to various immunotherapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors
  • Mimics the human tumor microenvironment, allowing for more accurate preclinical research
  • Cost-effective compared to other preclinical models
  • Can be used to test the efficacy of new immuno-oncology treatments and to evaluate the effectiveness of novel combination therapies

Optimize Your Study with Tailored Tools and Services

Maximize your results with bespoke study designs and expert guidance in selecting the appropriate analytical endpoints.

Some of our services include:

  • Tissue collection for immune cell analysis and profiling
  • Whole blood, spleen, and lymph node analysis
  • General observations, including pain analysis
  • Histology and IHC
  • Luciferase assays
  • IVIS imaging
  • FACS analysis
  • PK studies

Ready to get the most out of your study by integrating custom services and analyses?

If you don’t see what you are looking for, contact our team of scientists to discuss your unique research goals.

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Expand your applications with Immuno-theraTRACEⓇ

With our oncology platform, Immuno-theraTRACEⓇ, you can simultaneously test your immunotherapeutic in 8 syngeneic models. This helps you determine the best target cancer type to advance your immunotherapy.

In addition to testing your drug in our EMT-6 tumor model, Immuno-theraTRACEⓇ, lets you simultaneously analyze your immunotherapies in 7 other tumor types and get results in just 8 weeks.

This model is included in our Immuno-theraTRACE® oncology platform

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Did you know the EMT-6 syngeneic model is complementary to our xenograft MCF-7 model?

MCF-7 cells are the most commonly used cell line for breast cancer research worldwide. Melior’s MCF-7 mouse xenograft model enables novel cancer drugs to be tested within the complex in vivo environment, helping you fast-track your candidate to the clinic.

Complement your studies with the ER+, PR+, HER2- MCF-7 model.

Want to know more? Speak to an expert
  • 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
  • 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 & Gill Chair in Biomolecular Sciences Indiana University, Department of Chemistry
  • Because Melior could do the orthotopic intracranial implants, we were able to do survival studies with brain tumor-bearing animals that were treated with our therapy, showing a beautiful survival with our agent versus control. Talk about something that gets your investors going! These beautiful survival curves with our agent versus control and visual photos are in all of our investor decks because… it's powerful.

    Bruce Ruggeri, Ph.D.

    Modifi Bio
  • Melior works in many therapeutic areas, like CNS, inflammatory disease, GI, cardiovascular, and oncology. I was very pleased that when it came to doing tumor studies, both subcutaneous and intracranial, they did them well. They reported on the studies on time and did the data analysis really well.

    Bruce Ruggeri, Ph.D.

    Modifi Bio
  • Their areas of expertise are extensive, and they are very experienced, responsive, and flexible in terms of how the study is run. Their pricing is reasonable, making them the best option for a young, not well-funded company like ours.

    Maxine Gowen

    Tamuro Bio
  • Melior’s team was very experienced and knowledgeable. They were always very open to suggestions and questions, spending a lot of time helping us feel comfortable with the study design. I would give them very high marks.

    Maxine Gowen

    Tamuro Bio
  • The most important factors in choosing to work with Melior were the fit between the tests they could run and our needs, as well as their tight budget and proximity. Melior was the best fit for our research goals.

    Ira Spector

    SFA Therapeutics

Immune checkpoint inhibitor and chemotherapy validation of a subcutaneous mouse EMT-6 syngeneic model.
The EMT-6 tumor model was created by injecting 1 x106 EMT-6 cells into the rear flank of Balb/c mice. Once the tumor size reached ~150mm3 (Day 7), mice were randomized into groups and treated with vehicle, anti-PD-1 antibody (12.5mg/kg, IP twice per week), or paclitaxel (20 mg/kg, IP once per week). Tumor volume was monitored twice per week using calipers (A). At the end of the study (Day 18), animals were sacrificed, tumors were excised and weighed (B, C). Data area mean ± SEM. n=5/group. Data are mean ±SEM. * P<0.05, ** P<0.01 by Student’s t-test

Immune checkpoint inhibitor and chemotherapy validation of an orthotopic mouse EMT-6 syngeneic model. The EMT-6 tumor model was created by injecting 1 x106 EMT-6 cells into the lower right mammary fat pad (MFP) of Balb/c mice. Once the tumor size reached ~100mm3 (Day 7), mice were randomized into groups and treated with vehicle, anti-PD-1 antibody (12.5mg/kg, IP twice per week), or paclitaxel (20 mg/kg, IP once per week). Tumor volume was monitored twice per week using calipers (A). At the end of the study (Day 18), animals were sacrificed, tumors were excised and weighed (B, C). Data area mean ± SEM. n=5/group. Data are mean ± SEM. * P<0.05, ** P<0.01 *** P<0.001 by Student’s t-test

Related Services and Solutions

Not sure if the EMT-6 tumor model is right for your project?

We offer a wide selection of models for advancing your cancer therapy R&D, across cancer types including colon cancer, lung cancer, melanoma and more!

Explore our other syngeneic models

Complement your syngeneic studies with xenograft models

Expand your insights by complementing your syngeneic model with our collection of xenograft models for oncology research.

Evaluate your cancer therapies with our xenograft models

Can’t choose one model?

Get more from your research with Melior’s unique in vivo pharmacology platforms, including immuno-theraTRACE®, theraTRACE®, and opioidTRACE®.

Learn more about our in vivo pharmacology service platforms

Publications

Loeffler, D. A., Keng, P. C., Baggs, R. B., & Lord, E. M. (1990). Lymphocytic infiltration and cytotoxicity under hypoxic conditions in the EMT6 mouse mammary tumor. International journal of cancer, 45(3), 462-467.

Kresl, J. J., Potempa, L. A., Anderson, B., & Radosevich, J. A. (1999). Inhibition of mouse mammary adenocarcinoma (EMT6) growth and metastases in mice by a modified form of C-reactive protein. Tumor biology, 20(2), 72-87.

Keyes, S. R., Rockwell, S., Kennedy, K. A., & Sartorelli, A. C. (1991). Distribution of porfiromycin in EMT6 solid tumors and normal tissues of BALB/c mice. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 83(9), 632-637.

Liu, Z. Y., Weng, C. X., Chen, W., Zhao, H. Y., & Li, T. (2016). Low-Frequency ultrasound enhances paclitaxel efficacy in EMT6 subcutaneous tumors in balb/c mice. Oncology Research and Treatment, 39(4), 204-208.

Gorczynski, R. M., Clark, D. A., Erin, N., & Khatri, I. (2011). Role of CD200 expression in regulation of metastasis of EMT6 tumor cells in mice. Breast cancer research and treatment, 130, 49-60.

Papadopoulou, M. V., Ji, M., & Bloomer, W. D. (2001). Schedule-dependent potentiation of chemotherapeutic drugs by the bioreductive compounds NLCQ-1 and tirapazamine against EMT6 tumors in mice. Cancer chemotherapy and pharmacology, 48, 160-168.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an EMT-6 tumor model?

The EMT-6 tumor model is a murine mammary carcinoma cell line derived from BALB/c mice used to study breast cancer. EMT-6 cells are known for their aggressive growth and ability to form solid tumors when injected into mice, making them useful for investigating tumor biology and metastasis. This in vivo tumor model involves injecting the EMT-6 cells into BALB/c mice, leading to rapid tumor formation. Its syngeneic nature allows for studying immunotherapies in a fully functional immune system, making it a versatile and widely used model in cancer research.

Why should I choose the EMT-6 model from Melior?

Melior can initiate your EMT-6 tumor model study with short lead times and with a bespoke study design to suit your needs. Including time to establish tumor-bearing mice (1-2 weeks) and typical treatment times (2 weeks), these studies normally run for approximately 4 weeks. The mouse EMT-6 syngeneic model also yields highly reproducible tumor growth curves with small error bars capable of detecting changes in growth rates with relatively small group sizes.

What is a mouse allograft tumor model?

An allograft model uses tumor cells from a donor mouse transplanted into a recipient mouse with a different genetic background, making them useful for studying the effects of genetic differences on tumor growth and treatment responses but requiring an immunocompromised host to avoid tumor rejection. In contrast, syngeneic models contain tumor cells from a donor mouse with the same genetic background. Because of this, the recipient mouse can have an intact immune system, allowing for the study of natural tumor-immune system interactions and for developing immunotherapies.

However, neither mouse models fully replicate the complexity of human tumors. For this, xenograft models are a better alternative.

Citations

  1. Breast cancer. Accessed April 14, 2023. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/breast-cancer