COMPARISON OF SPONTANEOUS AND EXPERIMENTAL METASTASIS USING RAT 13762-MAMMARY ADENOCARCINOMA METASTATIC CELL CLONES

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 3  (2) , 65-80
Abstract
Rat 13762NF mammary adenocarcinoma cloned cell lines were assayed at different in vitro passage numbers and compared for their abilities to form spontaneous metastases by s.c. injection of cells and experimental metastases by i.v. injection of cells. Tumor cell clones were established from locally growing tumor and spontaneous lung metastases, and these clones possessed heterogeneous metastatic potentials in both metastasis assays. The rank order of clonal metastatic potentials based on either the average number of lung tumor colonies or the average total lung tumor volume was generally equivalent for spontaneous and experimental metastases, but some differences were noted. Ranking of spontaneous metastasis by average total lung tumor volumes more closely resembled the rank order of experimental metastasis than by the average number of spontaneous metastases. In the 13762NF mammary adenocarcinoma system there is heterogeneity in tumor cell clonal metastatic potential using either spontaneous or experimental assays; these 2 assay methods yield generally the same rank order of metastatic potential; the metastatic potential of each of the tumor cell clones drifts with time (passage number) in cell culture, and ranking by average tumor burden calculated from total lung tumor volumes may yield a better estimate of metastatic potential than ranking by the average number of lung tumor colonies.