Colon-26

FOR RESEARCH USE ONLY

The colon-26 cells were used to build the cachectic mouse model for the research of the cancer cachexia, which is a syndrome of progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and adipose tissue, causing weight loss and weakness. After inoculation of colon-26 cells, the following syndromes were observed in the transplanted mice: the sustaining and extensive weight loss as tumor growth, hypoglycemia, hypercorticism, and disorders of hepatic functions. With the growth of colon-26 tumor, the skeletal muscle and adipose tissues were both progressively lost, and the muscle cross-sectional area and muscle strength were reduced. This depletion of muscle tissue, induced by the colon-26 tumor, might be involved in the activation of proteolytic systems of skeletal muscle. The cytokine IL-6 is essential but not entirely sufficient for causing cachexia. Hence, anti-IL-6 antibody can be considered as an effective way to prevent the weight loss induced by cachexia. Otherwise, colon-26 cell line can be used for metastasis studies. The injection of colon-26 cell line into the spleen of wild-type mice induced the expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and the formation of subsequent liver metastasis, which is possibly mediated by tumor necrosis factor receptor p55 signaling.