Effects of antiplatelet agents on pulmonary metastases.

The role of platelets in cancer metastasis was studied by investigating the effects of the antiplatelet agents ticlopidine, diltiazem, dipyridamole and trapidil on artificial and spontaneous pulmonary metastases in mice. These agents were tested at their optimal inhibitory doses on adenosine diphosphate-induced platelet aggregation; namely, 100 mg/kg for ticlopidine, 2 mg/kg for diltiazem, 180 mg/kg for trapidil and 60 mg/kg for dipyridamole. At these doses, trapidil caused moderate inhibition of thrombin-induced platelet aggregation in mice, but the other agents had only slight effects. Artificial pulmonary metastasis was produced by inoculation of Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) or B16 melanoma (B16) cells into C57BL/6 mice. For induction of spontaneous pulmonary metastases, these tumor cells were implanted subcutaneously into the footpads of mice. The resulting primary tumors of LLC and B16 were removed 9-10 and 17 days later, respectively. Artificial pulmonary metastases were inhibited significantly by all the antiplatelet agents tested. Spontaneous pulmonary metastases were markedly reduced only when these agents were given after removal of the primary tumor. The role of platelets is discussed with respect to thrombus formation in the lodgement of tumor cells and the participation of platelet-derived growth factor in the growth of metastatic foci.