[An experimental study on the phenotypic diversity of Dunn's osteosarcoma--with special reference to alkaline...

Thirteen clones were obtained from Dunn's osteosarcoma by limiting dilution method. The clones differed in their alkaline phosphatase activities in culture medium and growth rates both in vitro and in vivo. Metastatic properties were assessed by observing the ability of the cells to produce pulmonary lesions after they were injected subcutaneously into syngeneic C3H/He mice. The lung weights, proportional to the number of metastatic nodules, varied among the clones. Clones 5 and 10 demonstrated high metastatic properties without formation of subcutaneous tumor at the site injected. Such phenotypes as alkaline phosphatase activity, growth rate and metastatic capacity, however, did not correlate with each other.