Dextran sulfate inhibits injured abdominal wall-specific tumor implantation in mice

Tumor recurrence is often seen at sites where the peritoneum has been injured during surgery for gastrointestinal malignancies. It is thought that malignant cells released from the tumor during surgery implant in the sites of injury in the abdominal wall and cause tumor recurrence. Here we use dextran sulfate (DS) as an antagonist to cell adhesion for preventing implantation of i.p. seeded malignant cells, thus suppressing the recurrent tumor formation often observed at the site of injury in postoperative abdominal walls. DS was tested for anti-adherent activity against B-16 melanoma cells to injured abdominal wall specimens ex vivo and showed the capacity to significantly impair B-16 melanoma cell adherence compared to controls without DS. DS was also tested for the activity to prevent i.p. seeded B-16 melanoma cells from implanting in the site of injury in the abdominal wall in vivo and DS prevented B-16 melanoma cells from implanting in the sites of injury in the abdominal wall. In the test for the activity to improve survival in mice after B-16 melanoma was inoculated i.p., DS improved the survival of mice as compared to the controls without DS. We conclude that DS may be useful in preventing surgically promoting tumor implantation at sites of injury in post-operative abdominal wall treated for gastrointestinal malignancies.