Novel screening technique for dissemination potential of ovarian cancer cells to peritoneum

Invasiveness to the peritoneum reconstituted with a mesothelial cell line and Engelbreth-Holm-Swam extract by metastatic cancer cell lines of the uterine cervix, endometrium, and ovary was always higher than that by primary cell lines. The invasiveness by metastatic ovarian cancer cell lines was significantly stronger than that by the other gynecological primary or metastatic cell lines. In the clinical ovarian cancers studied, cancer cells from the metastatic lesion were more invasive than those from the primary lesion. This suggests that metastatic ovarian cancer cells might inherently possess strong invasiveness to the peritoneum. The assay system used in the present study is useful in investigating the clinical behavior and basic biology of peritoneal dissemination.