Purpose: To create a murine ocular melanoma model that consistently metastasizes to the liver.
Methods: Twelve-week-old C57BL6 mice (n=10) were inoculated in the posterior compartment (PC) of one eye with 5x10(5) tissue culture B16LS9 melanoma cells. The inoculated eyes were enucleated at two weeks and the mice were sacrificed with necropsies performed at four weeks post-inoculation.
Results: Melanoma grew and was confined to the eyes of all 10 mice. The melanoma hematogenously spread to the lungs in 9 of 10 mice and the liver in 8 of 10 mice. There was a positive correlation between pulmonary and liver metastasis (r=0.94).
Conclusions: B16LS9 melanoma cells consistently hematogenously spread to the liver when implanted into C57BL6 mice eyes. The value of this model is unknown at this time since it is not known if the intrahepatic melanoma is capable of growing and killing the host.