IL-1β/IRAK4 Axis Promotes Ovarian Tumor Development at the Mesothelium Injury Sites

Lack of animal models recapitulating tumor cells seeding at inflamed sites in EOC hinders mechanistic studies and therapy developments. Here, we developed a non-surgical MIM (Mesothelium Inflammation/Injury Metastasis) model that recapitulates tumor cell seeding at inflamed sites.

This model captures temporal changes in tumor immune microenvironment and tumor growth allowing for deeper mechanistic and preclinical therapeutic studies of EOC in-vivo. We show here that HGS-3 high-grade murine serous EOC cells seed at needle-induced injury sites in mesothelium/peritoneal wall, forming tumors both internally and protruding outward. Using MIM model, we found that deletion of IL1R1 in mice reduced EOC cell seeding at mesothelium injury/inflamed site in WT but not IL1ra-deficient mice.