IN-VITRO MOBILIZATION OF THE 2 TUMOR-CELL VARIANTS BSP73 AS AND BSP73ASML BY MATRIGEL(TM) BASEMENT-MEMBRANE MATRIX

Two rat tumor cell populations, the in vitro highly invasive BSp73 AS and the in vitro noninvasive BSp73 ASML, derived from, an adenocarcino ma of the pancreas, have been investigated for activities relevant to tumor cell invasion and metastasis in vivo. Haptotactic motility of th ese cell lines was tested by a filter assay. Both cell lines were moti le in this assay, but the response of the ASML cells to extracellular matrix is in sharp contrast to their usual passive behaviour in vitro. It was shown that the substratum-bound extracellular matrix (Matrigel ) promotes cell shape changes and translocative motility even of the i n vitro noninvasive variant BSp73 ASML.