Binding of 125I-labelled concanavalin A by cells from spontaneously arising murine mammary carcinomas and experimentally induced metastases.
Measurement of the quantity of 125I-labelled Concanavalin A bound by disaggregated cells from a series of 20 primary murine mammary carcinomas has shown that there is no relationship between the binding of this lectin and capability of the cells to colonise the lungs after intravenous injection. However, cells taken from pulmonary deposits formed by those tumors able to colonise the lungs consistently bound greater amounts of the radio-labelled lectin than cells from the corresponding primary tumour (paired t-test, p less than 0.05). Also cells obtained from tumours formed by transplantation of pulmonary deposits into the mammary fat pad bound still more of this lectin than cells from either corresponding pulmonary deposits or primary tumours. The findings indicate that the higher lectin binding characterising cells from metastatic deposits is not site-induced and may reflect either a selective advantage of cells with these properties for metastasis formation or phenotypic changes in the cells during the metastatic process.
D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary*; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D010641:Phenotype; D013997:Time Factors
D007457:Iodine Radioisotopes; D003208:Concanavalin A