Validation of the non-cellular metastasis hypothesis of malignant tumors in mice / 南方医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To test the hypothesis that malignant tumor metastasis is mediated also through a non-cellular, essentially molecular, mechanism in addition to the cellular pathway.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The sex-determining region on the Y chromosome was detected as the marker of the primary tumors using PCR in Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) in vitro and in female C57BL/6 mice bearing LLC with spontaneous metastasis. The macroscopic and microscopic metastases in the tumor-bearing mice were examined for SRY expression by PCR and in situ hybridization, using the tissues from male and female mice as the positive or negative controls.</p><p><b>RESULTS AND CONCLUSION</b>Positive SRY gene expression was detected in the metastatic foci in the LLC-bearing female mice, suggesting the origination of these tumor cells from the primary tumor foci. We have failed to verify the non-cellular metastasis hypothesis in this animal experiment, but given the limitations of this experiment, we consider further investigation still necessary for verification of this hypothesis using other methods.</p>