Spontaneous metastasis of highly metastatic variants of mouse tumors and the effect of drugs on the metastasis.

Spontaneous metastasis of highly metastatic variants, B16 melanoma BL-6 and colon adenocarcinoma 26 NL-22, was examined. Tumor cells were inoculated into the right front footpad and the original tumors were removed by amputation of the forelimb at an appropriate time after tumor inoculation. Spontaneous lymph node and lung metastases occurred with B16 BL-6 and spontaneous lung metastasis occurred with NL-22. Analysis of the time-dependent formation of lymph node and lung metastases of BL-6 indicated that lung metastasis could be formed after the lymph node metastasis. Metastasis is influenced by the mouse strain, and both inbred and F1 hybrid mice of syngeneic origin could be used as host animals. By using these metastatic variants, two spontaneous metastasis systems were established. In order to evaluate the systems, the effects of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and adriamycin (ADM) were examined. 5-FU was effective against the metastases of both tumors, and ADM was moderately effective against B16 BL-6 metastasis.