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Differences in the Peripheries of Walker Cancer Cells Growing in Different Sites in the Rat¹

Department of Experimental Pathology, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, New York 14263

Walker 256 cancer cells growing in the ascitic form and following direct injection in the livers and in s.c. sites in rats had significantly higher anodic electrophoretic mobilities than did cells derived from the same source but growing in kidneys and spleens. Following incubation with neuraminidase, the cancer cells from the kidneys and spleen lost significantly less net surface negativity than did cells growing in the other 3 sites. These kidney- and spleen-associated differences were not demonstrably due to preexisting, electrokinetic subpopulations of cancer cells within the original ascites tumor; they were maintained on organ-to-organ passage and were reversed on reconversion of the tumors to ascitic form. The evidence favors site-induced modulation to account for the differences between primary cancers and their metastases are conceivably due to site-induced modulation as distinct from preexisting metastatic subpopulations.

Evidence which will be discussed later suggests that the cancer cells in some primary tumors are different from those in their metastases in at least some organs. The nonexclusive possibilities arise of whether these organs were selectively seeded by preexisting subpopulations of cancer cells from within the primary tumor or whether the seeding was random. In either case, the cells in the metastases were different because they were located in specific metastatic sites.

¹ This work was partially supported by Grant CA-17609-04 from The National Cancer Institute, NIH.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received 1/18/79. Accepted 3/29/79.