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The Fate of Circulating Tumor Cells

I. Passage of Cells through Capillaries^*

( Department of Pathology, University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, Philadelphia 4, Pennsylvania)

Experiments were done to study the behavior of circulating tumor cells as they engage the lumen of capillaries. The transplantable V₂ carcinoma and Brown-Pearce carcinoma were used in domestic rabbits. Suspensions of cells were injected into the mesenteric artery while, simultaneously, microcinematic studies were made in the region of the arterio-capillary junctions of the mesentery. The majority of the cells from each tumor passed through the capillaries into the venous circulation. Cells of the V₂ carcinoma were arrested more frequently than those of the Brown-Pearce carcinoma.

It is concluded that tumor cells can distort to fit the narrow capillary tube and so pass through the capillary circulation into the veins. An occasional cell appears too rigid to fit into the capillary tube and is thus arrested. The incidence of permanent cell arrest varies with the type of tumor used.

^* This investigation was supported by Grants C-2356 and CRT-5022 from the Division of Research Grants and Fellowships of the National Institutes of Health, United States Public Health Service, and by an Institutional Grant from the American Cancer Society.

Received 6/23/60.