A syngeneic model of experimental metastasis was used to assess the role of the podoplanin-CLEC-2 interaction in melanoma metastasis in vivo. We intravenously inoculated PDPN + and PDPN- B16-F0 cells into WT C57BL/6J mice or WT mice transplanted with CLEC-2-deficient bone marrow (CLEC-2 KO) via lateral tail vein injection. The gene discussed is PDPN; the disease is melanoma.