Inverse correlation between the metastatic capacity of cell clones derived from a rat mammary carcinoma and their intercellular communication with normal fibroblasts

Abstract

We used three highly and two weakly metastatic clones obtained from a rat mammary carcinoma cell line (c-SST-2) to examine the relationship between the metastatic capacity of tumor cells and their intercellular communication with normal fibroblasts. By employing the dye-transfer method, we found that the frequency of intercellular communication between weakly metastatic clone cells and fibroblasts was significantly higher than that between highly metastatic clone cells and fibroblasts. These results suggest that normal fibroblasts may regulate the metastatic capacity of tumor cells by intercellular communication.