Objectives: Lymphatic metastasis is the main cause of low patient survival in cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Several animal models have been established to uncover the mechanism that regulates lymph node metastasis of OSCC cells. Unfortunately, these models often take a long time to establish. The prolonged tumor burden can lead to animal cachexia, which may ultimately affect the experimental outcome. To overcome the disadvantages of these models, we established an orthotopic metastatic animal model of OSCC that showed quick lymph node metastasis potential.

Results: DiR dye-labeled CAL27 cells were injected into tongue tissues of BALB/c nude mice, and the cells metastasized to lymph nodes on day 3. Metastasis was monitored using an in vivo imaging system and confirmed by histological observation. Using this model, we investigated the role of hyaluronic acid (HA) on the cervical metastasis of OSCC cells. Surprisingly, we found that the presence of HA significantly reduced the incidence of metastasis to cervical lymph nodes compared with the control group. Further analysis revealed that the presence of exogenous HA promoted mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) in primary tumors while reducing the metastatic potential of OSCC.

Conclusion: Our findings confirmed the establishment of a fast and reliable lymphatic metastatic mouse model of OSCC that can be used for investigating metastatic mechanisms and analyzing various antimetastasis strategies. An equally important discovery is the antimetastatic property of HA, which could provide a potential therapeutic strategy for OSCC.

目的：淋巴转移是口腔鳞状细胞癌（OSCC）患者生存率低的主要原因。已经建立了几种动物模型来揭示调节OSCC细胞淋巴结转移的机制。不幸的是，这些模型通常需要很长时间才能建立。延长的肿瘤负担可能导致动物恶病质，最终可能影响实验结果。为了克服这些模型的缺点，我们建立了OSCC的原位转移动物模型，该模型显示出快速淋巴结转移的潜力。

结果：将DiR染料标记的CAL27细胞注射到BALB / c裸鼠的舌头组织中，并在第3天转移到淋巴结。使用体内成像系统监测转移情况，并通过组织学观察证实。使用此模型，我们研究了透明质酸（HA）在OSCC细胞宫颈转移中的作用。令人惊讶地，我们发现与对照组相比，HA的存在显着降低了转移至颈淋巴结的发生率。进一步的分析表明，外源性HA的存在促进了原发性肿瘤的间充质-上皮转化（MET），同时降低了OSCC的转移潜力。

结论：我们的发现证实了一种快速，可靠的OSCC淋巴转移小鼠模型的建立，该模型可用于研究转移机制和分析各种抗转移策略。同样重要的发现是HA的抗转移特性，可以为OSCC提供潜在的治疗策略。