Correlation between secretion pattern and metastatic potential from drug-treated 3LL tumor cell line.

In the present study, we described the effects of three different drugs, A23187 calcium ionophore (A23187), indomethacin (IND) and phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), on the secretion pattern and the metastatic potential in the low metastatic 3LL tumor cell line. The results evidence that a low molecular weight protein fraction is always secreted in an higher amount in drug treated cells than in untreated cells independently of the drug used. In addition to their effects on secretion pattern, the three drugs assayed enhance noticeably the metastatic rate in vivo of the 3LL cells. The data confirm our earlier observations showing that our high performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC) method is suitable for discriminating even between cells with a different degree (low and high) of metastatic potential by its chromatographic secretion pattern and that alterations in the secretion pattern from treated cells are related with changes in the degree of metastatic potential of these cells.