Table 1. Experimental mice for the development of an orthotopic model of bone malignancies.

Transplanted cell line	Numberof mice	Age at transplantation,weeks: median, (range)	Time to reach protocol limits, days: median, (range)	Tumour formation,%	Dominant histological feature
VH-64	7	12 (11–12)	38 (31–55)	100% (7/7)	Extensive spicules of reactive new bone
TC-71	6	12 (11–12)	31 (15–42)	100% (6/6)	Reactive new bone and cortical destruction
TC-71 in Rag2−/− γc−/− mice	13	13 (12–17)	43.5 (4–62)	92% (12/13)	As for TC-71
SaOS-2	5	12 (10–12)	70 (52–85)	100% (5/5)	Malignant new bone formation
PC3M	7	12 (12–13)	29 (29–55)	100% (7/7)	Osteoclastic cortical lysis and reactive new bone
Medium	5	11 (11–12)	N.A. (sacrificed>day 85)	0% (0/5)	Normal findings

VH-64 and TC-71: Ewing sarcoma cell lines; SaOS-2: osteosarcoma cell line; PC3M: prostatic adenocarcinoma cell line; Medium: mice were injected with medium alone. N.A.: not applicable. All mice were NSG mice unless stated otherwise.