AKR lymphoma malignancy variants differing at late phase of metastasis.

The biological behavior of two AKR lymphoma variants, the TAU-39 and TAU-38, of low (LM) and high (HM) malignancy, respectively, has previously been described. In the present study an attempt was made to determine the phase in the metastatic process in which these variants differ. Two types of findings suggest that the two variants differ in the late phase of the process; (a) no difference in the degree of invasiveness of the primary tumor to the surrounding tissues has been found between the two variants, both being highly invasive; (b) comparison of malignant behavior in the "spontaneous metastasis" versus the "experimental metastasis" tests showed a similar ranking of malignancy of the two variants.