Increased experimental pulmonary metastasis in pregnant mice

The effect of pregnancy on experimental pulmonary metastasis was studied. Compared to the incidence of pulmonary metastasis induced by G6 cells in non-pregnant mice, the incidence of such metastasis was found to be greatly enhanced when the cells were injected i.v. in the latter half of pregnancy. The maximum enhancement was seen on the 15th day of pregnancy. The incidence of pulmonary metastasis returned to the level observed in non-pregnant mice when the cells were injected 4 days after parturition. Pregnancy also significantly increased the incidence of pulmonary metastasis of 2 other cell lines (3LL and Colon 26). Injection of G6 cells after hysterectomy performed on the 15th day of pregnancy resulted in decreased lung colonization, similar to that seen after parturition. Quantificative analysis of the arrest of G6 cells labeled with [125I]-5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine in the lungs showed that the tumor-cell clearance from the lungs during the 24-72 hr after tumor-cell injection was much slower in pregnant than in non-pregnant mice. The continuous administration of beta-estradiol and/or progesterone, which maintained serum levels of the hormones equivalent to those prevailing on the 15th day of pregnancy, did not affect the lung colonization of G6 cells. Tumor-cell-platelet aggregation was more extensive with platelets obtained from mice at the 15th day of pregnancy than with those from non-pregnant mice. When platelets isolated from pregnant mice were injected into normal mice 5 min before G6 injection, lung metastasis was also enhanced. These findings suggest that a pregnant host is handicapped with regard to pulmonary metastasis, this being partly due to increased platelet-aggregating activity in response to tumor cells.