NOVEL SCREENING TECHNIQUE FOR DISSEMINATION POTENTIAL OF OVARIAN-CANCER CELLS TO PERITONEUM

Invasiveness to the peritoneum reconstituted with a mesothelial cell l ine and Engelbreth-Holm-Swaa extract by metastatic cancer cell lines o f the uterine cervix, endometrium, and ovary was always higher than th at by primary cell lines. The invasiveness by metastatic ovarian cance r cell lines was significantly stronger than that by the other gynecol ogical primary or metastatic cell lines. In the clinical ovarian cance rs studied, cancer cells from the metastatic lesion were more invasive than those from the primary lesion. This suggests that metastatic ova rian cancer cells might inherently possess strong invasiveness to the peritoneum. The assay system used in the present study is useful in in vestigating the clinical behavior and basic biology of peritoneal diss emination.