The K7M2 Tumor Model For Osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma Model: Key Insights, Treatment Options, and the Role of Mouse Models in Research

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a rare and aggressive bone cancer that predominantly affects children and young adults. This malignancy is commonly found in the long bones, particularly around the knee, and is known for its rapid metastasis, primarily to the lungs. Despite advancements in surgery and chemotherapy, prognosis for patients with metastatic or recurrent osteosarcoma remains poor. This highlights the urgent need for novel treatment options, and the development of an osteosarcoma model plays a critical role in advancing research and therapeutic strategies.

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Treatment Options for Osteosarcoma

The standard treatment approach for osteosarcoma typically involves neoadjuvant chemotherapy, followed by surgery, and adjuvant chemotherapy. Chemotherapeutic regimens often include drugs like methotrexate, doxorubicin, and cisplatin. While these treatments have improved survival rates, side effects such as cardiotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, and secondary cancers remain significant concerns. For patients with metastatic osteosarcoma or those who experience relapse, the prognosis is still grim, with survival rates often falling below 30%. New treatment modalities, including immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and gene editing, are being investigated, but their effectiveness in clinical settings remains under study.

Unmet Medical Needs in Osteosarcoma Treatment

Despite current therapies, there are major unmet medical needs in osteosarcoma care. Metastatic and recurrent osteosarcoma still has limited effective treatments, and the development of resistance to chemotherapy is a major challenge. Additionally, long-term side effects from chemotherapy significantly impact patients’ quality of life. There is a critical need for more effective, targeted therapies with fewer long-term consequences, particularly as osteosarcoma remains a rare disease, limiting clinical trials and research focus.

The Role of the Mouse Model of Osteosarcoma

Animal models are indispensable for understanding the biology of osteosarcoma and for testing new therapies. The K7M2 syngeneic mouse model of osteosarcoma is a widely used tool in preclinical research. This model, where murine osteosarcoma cells are implanted into immunocompetent Balb/C mice, closely replicates key aspects of human osteosarcoma, including tumor progression, metastasis, and chemotherapy resistance. The K7M2 osteosarcoma model has been instrumental in evaluating innovative treatment options like immunotherapy and targeted drugs, helping to refine therapeutic strategies before clinical trials. Melior runs the K7M2 osteosarcoma model as either a subcutaneous tumor model or an orthotopic model in which cells are engrafted into the tibia.

Tailor-made Services: Designed with You in Mind

Initiate your K7M2 tumor model study quickly with a bespoke design to suit your needs. In as little as 3-4 weeks, we help you go from design to results with our flexible, custom services.

Our bespoke analyses 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 assay
  • IVIS imaging
  • FACS analysis
  • PK studies

Ready to get started or looking for a custom model?

We offer face-to-face Zoom calls, ad-hoc consultations, and customized study proposals. Take advantage of a direct line to experienced project managers and our hands-on approach to revision support.

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Expand Your Applications with immuno-theraTRACEⓇ

With our oncology platform, immuno-theraTRACE®, you can test your immunotherapeutic across 9 syngeneic models. This helps you determine the best target cancer type to advance your immunotherapy.

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

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  • 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

Chemotherapy and immune check point inhibitor validations in mouse K7M2 subcutaneous and orthotopic syngeneic mouse model. 1x 106 K7M2 cells were subcutaneously or orthotopically (intratibial) injected into Balb/C mice. Once the tumor size reached ~150mm3, mice were randomized into groups of vehicle (normal saline), anti PD-1 (12.5mg/kg, IP weekly) and cisplatin (4 mg/kg, IP weekly). Subcutaneous tumor growth curve and tumor weights are shown in A and B. Orthotopic tumor growth curves, tumor+tibia weights and tumors are shown in C, D and E. Data are mean ± SEM. . Data are mean ± SEM.

Related Services and Solutions

Not sure if the K7M2 tumor model is right for your research goals?

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

Explore our other syngeneic models

Looking for a xenograft model?

Expand your research insights with our collection of xenograft models for oncology research.

Complement your syngeneic studies 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® for oncology.

Learn more about our in vivo pharmacology service platforms

Publications

Grisez, B. T., Ray, J. J., Bostian, P. A., Markel, J. E., & Lindsey, B. A. (2018). Highly metastatic K7M2 cell line: a novel murine model capable of in vivo imaging via luciferase vector transfection. Journal of Orthopaedic Research®, 36(8), 2296-2304.

Lu, J., Dai, D., Zhang, J., Wang, R., Miao, D., & Sun, W. (2023). Targeted deletion of Rictor in BMSCs reduces the biological activity of K7M2 cells and mitigates OS-induced bone destruction. Stem Cells, 41(6), 672-683.

Lv, H. H., Zhen, C. X., Liu, J. Y., & Shang, P. (2020). PEITC triggers multiple forms of cell death by GSH-iron-ROS regulation in K7M2 murine osteosarcoma cells. Acta Pharmacologica Sinica, 41(8), 1119-1132.

Citations

  1. Jafari, F., Javdansirat, S., Sanaie, S., Naseri, A., Shamekh, A., Rostamzadeh, D., & Dolati, S. (2020). Osteosarcoma: A comprehensive review of management and treatment strategies. Annals of diagnostic pathology, 49, 151654, 13(1), 927.
  2. Ottaviani, G., & Jaffe, N. (2010). The epidemiology of osteosarcoma. Pediatric and adolescent osteosarcoma, 3-13.BMC cancer, 21, 1-12.
  3. Walia, M. K., Castillo‐Tandazo, W., Mutsaers, A. J., Martin, T. J., & Walkley, C. R. (2018). Murine models of osteosarcoma: a piece of the translational puzzle. Journal of cellular biochemistry, 119(6), 4241-4250.BioMed Research International, 2021(1), 6626851.
  4. Kuo Jiang, Qianfeng Zhang, Yong Fan, Jia Li, Jitao Zhang, Wentao Wang, Jinzhu Fan, Yunshan Guo, Shichang Liu, Dingjun Hao, Yongxiang Wang, Lei Wang & Lequn Shan. Cell Death Discovery (2022)8:117 ; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41420-022-00923-8, 36(11), 931-940.