In vivo selection of human renal cell carcinoma cells with high metastatic potential in nude mice.

Studies were made to determine whether the orthotopic implantation of human renal cell carcinoma cells (HRCC) into nude mice will produce distant metastases, thus allowing for the selection of variant cells with high metastatic potential. The parental SN12C line was established in culture from a surgical specimen of HRCC. The renal subcapsule (RSC) of adult nude mice was injected with SN12C cells; the mice were killed when they became moribund. Cell lines were established from either single or multiple lung HRCC metastases. The intravenous injection of many (but not all) of the metastasis-derived lines produced significantly more experimental metastases than did the parental cells. The injection of cells into the RSC demonstrated that, in general, cells derived from spontaneous metastases were more metastatic than cells of the parental line. Hence adult nude mice can be used to select HRCC cells with high metastatic potential. These HRCC variant lines offer a good model for studying the cell properties of metastatic HRCC.