Melanoma Cells and Tumors are Still Viable at Least Three Days Following Removal from Homeostatic Sources

Abstract

There is a tacit assumption that cancer cell lines removed from incubation and tumors that grow from the injection of these cells into mice diminish vitality quickly. When the melanoma tumors (from about 1 million B16-BL6 cells injected within 1 hr after removal from incubation) were removed about three to four weeks later and placed over the sensors of photomultiplier tubes conspicuous ~40 min periodicities of photon emissions began between 24 to 48 hr later. One million cells extracted from 10 cc suspensions of (~108) mouse melanoma cells that remained at room temperature for up to 3 days (when the smell was fetid) still produced viable tumors when injected subcutaneously. The tumors were more aqueous than those produced from immediately injected cells and were similarly fetid upon dissection unlike typical melanoma tumors. Their histopathology was qualitatively different. These results indicate that aggregates of cells in suspension or as tumors show unexpected properties that should be accommodated in models of proliferation and growth for malignant cells.