Tumorigenicity and metastatic ability of MmB16 mouse melanoma cell line and its two Aleuria aurantia agglutinin resistant variants.

The availability of neoplastic cell lines with well defined growth characteristics has greatly facilitated study of the tumor phenotype, tumor progression and metastatic process. MmB16 cell line has been established in vitro from the B16 mouse melanoma serially passaged in C57BL/6 mice. From MmB16 cells two lectin-resistant (LecR) variants were selected with the use of Aleuria aurantia agglutinin (AAA). The correlation between the lectin resistance and their in vivo growth parameters, especially tumorigenicity and metastatic ability, were evaluated. The local tumor growth and the average survival time of mice after subcutaneous (s.c.) inoculation of AAAR variant cells did not differ significantly from those of the parent MmB16 cells. However, the AAAR variants revealed significantly higher experimental lung colonizing ability after intravenous (i.v.) administration and slightly increased spontaneous metastatic ability after s.c. inoculation, as compared to parent MmB16 cells.