Bladder cancer xenograft model

Twelve male BALB/c nude mice at 6 weeks of age, weighing 18–22 g, were obtain from SLAC Laboratory Animal Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China) and were bred in a special pathogen-free (SPF) grade laboratory in Fudan University. The mice were housed 5–10/cage, in a 12:12-h light:dark cycle environment, with ad libitum access to food and water. Mice were randomly divided into 2 groups (T24; treatment vs. control). A total of 10⁷ cancer cells resuspended in 100 ml of PBS were injected subcutaneously at the left axilla of each mouse. Tumors became perceptible at ~5 mm in diameter on day 7. Thereafter, intratumoral injection of 50 µl of the lentivirus at 10⁸ U/ml or control (PBS) with the same volume was administered. All mice were sacrificed on day 35 and the tumors were extracted. The tumor size was calculated with the following formula: Volume = length × width²/2. All experimental protocols were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Department of Laboratory Animal Science of Fudan University (Shanghai, China).