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A Comparative Study of Some Properties of Chromatin from Two "Minimal Deviation" Hepatomas¹

Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205

Chromatin has been isolated from slow-growing Morris hepatoma 9618A, which has a normal chromosome number and normal karyotype. Some of the compositional and functional properties of this chromatin have been examined and compared with those of the chromatin from normal liver and from fast-growing Morris hepatoma 5123C. The chromatin of both hepatomas was found to have a slightly greater content of nonhistone protein and RNA, an increased rate of incorporation of amino acid into histones, and a reduced turnover of nonhistone protein, compared to the chromatin from normal liver. The chromatin from hepatoma 9618A had the same in vitro template activity for RNA synthesis as did chromatin from liver, and the electrophoretic pattern of the nonhistone proteins was qualitatively identical to the pattern obtained with liver nonhistone proteins. The chromatin from hepatoma 5123C, on the other hand, exhibited a marked increase in template activity, compared to that from normal liver, and there were several alterations in the electrophoretic pattern of the nonhistone proteins. The data suggest that some of the differences between the chromatin of rapidly growing hepatomas and that of normal liver are a feature of malignant progression rather than the process of neoplastic transformation.

¹ This investigation was supported by Grant CA08306 from the USPHS, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.

² Recipient of Research Career Development Award 1-K04-CA38871-01A1 from the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.

Received 12/29/72. Accepted 2/26/73.