The inhibitory effect of heparin and warfarin treatments on the intravascular survival of B16 melanoma cells in syngeneic C57 mice.

Heparin and warfarin inhibit the intravascular survival of B16 melanoma cells in syngeneic C57B1/6J mice in a dose-related manner. The anticoagulant properties of these drugs appear to mediate their inhibitory effects on the survival of intravascular tumor cells. Despite the administration of large doses of heparin, a constant fraction of tumor cells survive to form lung tumors. These data indicate that coagulation dependent and coagulation independent populations of B16 cells normally survive following the intravenous injection of tumor cells.