title: Cancer-cell traffic in the liver. III Lethal deformation of B16 melanoma cells in liver sinusoids.
abstract: It has previously been shown that most of the B16F10 melanoma cells delivered to the mouse liver via the portal vein are rapidly killed in periportal zone 1 of the sinusoids. Few intact viable cells reach pericentral zone 3 of the sinusoids and of these, only a very small proportion leave the liver to colonize the lungs. The hypothesis has been advanced that one non-exclusive, potential mechanism for cancer-cell destruction in the liver is a result of the deformation of cancer cells when they enter vessels of smaller diameter than themselves. Where entry is associated with change in shape from spheroid to cylindrical, a mandatory increase in cancer-cell surface area occurs, which is first apparent and utilizes surface membrane excess (rugosity). If this increase is insufficient, a real increase occurs which, if in excess of approximately 4%, results in lethal surface membrane rupture. This hypothesis predicts that, under these circumstances, cancer-cell resistance to mechanical trauma is favored by small diameter and utilizable surface membrane excess. To test this hypothesis, the traffic of melanoma cells in the liver following portal-vein injection has been observed by confocal microscopy and image reconstruction. In accordance with the hypothesis, non-disrupted cells within the sinusoids have a smaller mean diameter than that of the original inoculum, and show evidence of utilization of surface membrane excess. The results indicate that deformation-associated trauma, suffered by cancer cells on entry and residence in the microvasculature, may well be an important factor contributing to metastatic inefficiency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Pathology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barbera-Guillem
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Weiss
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement; D002470:Cell Survival; D005260:Female; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary; D008546:Melanoma, Experimental / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008833:Microcirculation