Color coding cancer cells with fluorescent proteins to visualize in vivo cellular interaction in metastatic colonies.

We report here in vivo visualization of cancer cell interaction using stable sublines of green fluorescent protein (GFP)- and red fluorescent protein (RFP)-expressing HT-1080 human fibrosarcoma cells. These color-coded fibrosarcoma cell lines show similar cell proliferation and lung metastasis potential. The color-coded cells were mixed at a ratio of 1:1 and were injected into the tail vein of severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice. The resulting experimental lung metastases were simultaneously imaged and their ratio was determined by color-pixel analysis. Fluorescence color coding of cancer cells enables visualization of the interaction of cancer cells and can be used to distinguish cancer cells of any genotype or phenotype.