{"doi":"10.1016/j.xpro.2025.104081","title":"Protocol for developing a melanoma brain metastasis mouse model for preclinical drug testing and brain tumor progression monitoring","abstract":"We present a protocol to generate a murine model of established melanoma brain metastases by intracranially injecting tumor cells into newborn “glowing head” C57BL/6 syngeneic mice, which are tolerized to both GFP and luciferase. First, we describe steps for cell and animal preparation. We then detail the utilization of bioluminescent imaging to monitor brain tumor progression. This model enables the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy against established melanoma brain metastases. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Almazan et al. 1 • Develop a murine model of melanoma brain metastases for preclinical drug testing • Intracranial injections into newborn mice to induce melanoma brain metastases • Detection of brain tumor growth and progression using bioluminescent imaging Publisher’s note: Undertaking any experimental protocol requires adherence to local institutional guidelines for laboratory safety and ethics. We present a protocol to generate a murine model of established melanoma brain metastases by intracranially injecting tumor cells into newborn “glowing head” C57BL/6 syngeneic mice, which are tolerized to both GFP and luciferase. First, we describe steps for cell and animal preparation. We then detail the utilization of bioluminescent imaging to monitor brain tumor progression. This model enables the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy against established melanoma brain metastases.","journal":"STAR Protocols","year":2025,"id":574807,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9365,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":937785,"name":"Tursun Turapov","orcid":"0000-0002-7375-5565","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":267512,"name":"Sheri L. Holmen","orcid":"0000-0002-6411-6032","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1038466,"name":"Jared Almazan","orcid":"0009-0008-7816-8555","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":3,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:57:44.572630Z","pmid":"40944916","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}