Melanoma is a form of skin cancer distinguished by abnormal expression of melanocyte cells, which are responsible for producing pigmentation in the skin. Melanoma is the deadliest form of any skin cancer, with a five-year survival rate of under 20% for cases diagnosed in late stages. Roughly half of all melanoma diagnosis are considered invasive, and incident level has been increasing significantly over the course of the last few decades. There are many therapeutic agents that are being developed to reduce the incident level and improve standard of care, but there remains to be highly effective treatments for advanced stage melanoma. B16-F10 is a well-documented immortal mouse melanoma cell line developed from the tenth passage of a B16 melanoma isolated from a C57BL/6 mouse. It has been characterized to express BRAF, C-KIT, and CTLA-4 gene mutations.

We have expressed B16-F10 mouse melanoma as a cell derived xenograft (CDX) flank model in C57BL/6 mice. Our model reflects late-stage tumorigenesis, with mean tumor burden in experimental controls reaching euthanasia criteria within twenty-five days of inoculation, and proper tumor regression following standard of care in melanoma oncotherapy.