Generation of a venous thrombosis model of colon cancer. (A) Schema of the experimental model. Athymic nude mice were injected with HT-29 cells, and the xenograft was allowed to grow for 4 weeks. IVCs were ligated, and after 2 days, the animals were euthanized for harvest of the xenograft and clot. Blood collected was examined for targeted metabolomics, AHR, and TF activity assays. (B) Tumor xenograft growth. A group of 8- to 10-week-old athymic female (n = 4) and male (n = 4) mice were injected subcutaneously with HT-29 cells suspended in Matrigel (N = 8). An average tumor volume is shown. Error bars = SEM. A Student t test was applied. Compared with the tumor volume at time 0, P = .003 for the tumor volumes at week 2 and 3 and P < .001 at week 4. (C) Increase in clot weight of mice bearing colon cancer xenografts. Box plots of the clot weights of mice depicted in panel B and the controls (without xenografts) are shown. The lines in the boxes represent median levels, and the lower and upper boundaries of the boxes represent the 25th and 75th percentiles, respectively. The lower and upper whiskers represent the minimum and maximum values. ***P = .001. (D) Tumor volume at the end of harvest was correlated with the clot weight. N = 8 mice. Pearson’s correlation R² = 0.21 and P = .25.