A difference in prostaglandin-producing ability between cancer cells metastasized into liver and kidney

In order to study the mechanism of cancer metastasis AH100B cells, a rat hepatoma cell line, were injected into the left carotid artery of male Donryu rats to form metastatic lesions. Each metastatic nodule in the liver and kidney was collected and injected into the peritoneal cavity of normal rats. About 3 weeks later, intact metastatic cancer cells were collected from each ascites that was not bloody. After washing in Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, Ca2+ and Mg(2+)-free, pH 7.2), 1 x 10(6) cancer cells were incubated in the PBS containing [1-14C]-arachidonic acid (AA) at 24 degrees C for 5 min. AA metabolites formed during the incubation period were extracted and subjected to thin layer chromatography, followed by autoradiography. Each radioactive spot was scraped off the plate and its radioactivity was measured. In the cancer cells which metastasized to the liver, the ability to produce prostaglandin (PG) E2 was higher (p less than 0.05) but those to produce PGF2 alpha and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha were lower (p less than 0.01) than in the cancer cells which metastasized to the kidney. These results suggest that cancer cells metastasizing to the liver and the kidney are different from each other in the ability to produce PG.