Studies of three canine mammary cell lines--II. In vivo properties.

Three cell lines, REM 134, 111 and 367, derived from canine mammary carcinomas have been used to induce tumours in athymic nude mice after subcutaneous injection. The histopathology of the tumours was compared and each was found to resemble closely the original tumour. This did not change after serial in vivo passage. Metastasis never occurred. Injection of REM 134 cells intracranially resulted in a fast-growing tumour which also did not metastasize; injection intrapleurally resulted in growths most commonly on the mediastinum with confinement to the chest cavity. Fibronectin was present in the subcutaneous tumours. Two of the cell lines were cloned in semi-solid agar. When tested, these clones induced tumours identical histologically to the uncloned ones. Finally, male and female mice were injected subcutaneously with the same number of cells from each of the three lines but the rate of tumour growth did not differ significantly between the two sexes.