Decrease of metastatic ability after selection for intravasating ability in Lewis lung carcinoma (3LL) cell line

The release of cancer cells from the primary site and penetration into bloo d vessels are obligatory preliminary steps for metastasis. To investigate t he mechanism of such steps we isolated variant cells (designated as Int-3LL ) possessing enhanced intravasating ability from Lewis lung carcinoma (3LL) cells by in vivo selection. In spite of the enhanced intravasating ability of Int-3LL, the spontaneous and experimental metastatic abilities of Int-3 LL decreased significantly compared to parent cells. Such a cell line has n ever been reported so far. The matched pair of cell lines described in this report provides a useful system for investigating the primary steps of met astasis. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.