Retrospective study of spontaneous osteosarcomas in the nonobese diabetic strain and nonobese diabetic-derived substrains of mice.

In this retrospective study, spontaneous osteosarcomas were found in 85 of 1,202 (7.1%) nonobese diabetic (NOD) and NOD-derived mice. Gross tumors were evident at an average age of 155.8 days in male mice and 151.4 days in female mice. Compared with male mice, female mice had a statistically insignificant higher incidence: 56 cases (8.3% of 672) versus 28 cases (6.1% of 458). NOD/ShiLtJ mice had the highest incidence, with 39 cases among all the strains and substrains represented (3.2% of 1,202 necropsies), whereas NOD.SCID substrains had the highest incidence, with 16 cases among the various NOD-derived substrains (1.3% of 1,202 necropsies). There was a statistically significant difference in tumor incidence between NOD/ShiLtJ and NOD.SCID mice. Tumors were more frequent in the appendicular skeleton (55.7%) than in the axial skeleton (44.3%) and most often arose from the femurs. Histologically, osteoblastic osteosarcoma was the most common tumor type, with 79 cases (94%), followed by mixed osteosarcoma, with 5 cases (6%). Metastases were rare, with only 2 cases (2.3%).