Uveal Melanoma

Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary intraocular tumor in adults. Despite advances in diagnosis and treatments, UM mortality rates have not considerably changed over the past decades, with a variable 5-year survival rates ranging from 25% to 66%. Metastasis main organ-targets are the liver (71.4–87%) and the lung (24.4%). Unluckily, when liver metastasis are diagnosed, treatment options are limited and mortality is higher, with an estimate survival of 6 months.

Animal models of UM based on cellular implantation have been developed using melanoma cells derived from different origins. The 92.1 cell line (human origin) has been used in several studies due to its high proliferative and invasive potential in vitro and in vivo. Rabbits have an adequate ocular globe size to allow easy funduscopic and ultrasonography evaluation of the induced tumors. Moreover, the simplicity of inoculation and the possibility of locating tumor cells in the choroid make this animal appropriate for UM models. Nevertheless, continuous immunosuppression with cyclosporin A (CsA) is necessary to maintain experimental tumors derived from human UM cells after implantation in the choroid of rabbits