Platelet cancer cell interaction in metastasis formation. Platelet aggregation inhibitors: a possible approach to metastasis prevention.

Abnormal platelet aggregation on circulating and lodged cancer cells may play an important role in the early stages of metastasis formation. The immediate drop in the number of circulating platelets following intravenous injection of Walker-256 carcinosarcoma cells in rats represents the experimental counterpart of the morphologic finding of tumor cells associated with tumor clusters in the pulmonary arterioles and capillaries.