GL261 luciferase-expressing cells elicit an anti-tumor immune response: an evaluation of murine glioma models

Preclinical models that reliably recapitulate the immunosuppressive properties of human gliomas are essential to assess immune-based therapies. GL261 murine glioma cells are widely used as a syngeneic animal model of glioma, however, it has become common practice to transfect these cells with luciferase for fluorescent tumor tracking. The aim of this study was to compare the survival of mice injected with fluorescent or non-fluorescent GL261 cells and characterize the differences in their tumor microenvironment. Mice were intracranially implanted with GL261, GL261 Red-FLuc or GL261-Luc2 cells at varying doses. Cytokine profiles were evaluated by proteome microarray and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was used to determine survival differences. Median survival for mice implanted with 5 × 104 GL261 cells was 18 to 21 days. The GL261 Red-FLuc implanted mice cells did not reach median survival at any tumor dose. Mice injected with 3 × 105 GL261-Luc2 cells reached median survival at 23 days. However, median survival was significantly prolonged to 37 days in mice implanted with 5 × 104 GL261-Luc2 cells. Additionally, proteomic analyses revealed significantly elevated inflammatory cytokines in the supernatants of the GL261 Red-FLuc cells and GL261-Luc2 cells. Our data suggest that GL261 Red-FLuc and GL261-Luc2 murine models elicit an anti-tumor immune response by increasing pro-inflammatory modulators.