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Correlation of Anchorage-independent Growth with Tumorigenicity of Chemically Transformed Mouse Epidermal Cells¹

Departments of Environmental and Industrial Health [N. H. C., W. F. V. B., J. R. B., R. H. G., J. D. R., T. S.], Biological Chemistry [N. H. C.], and Dermatology [N. H. C., W. H. K.], University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

The BALB/c mouse primary epidermal cell culture system is currently being developed as a model system for chemical carcinogenesis studies with the immediate aims of achieving a high incidence of chemically induced transformation and developing rapid assays for tumorigenicity. Primary cultures treated with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (1 to 2 µg/ml) at 0 to 3 days postplating, followed in some cases by phorbol ester treatment, yielded after 3 to 4 months six morphologically altered long-term cell strains of which three were tumorigenic, as determined by injection into syngeneic newborns. One phorbol ester control yielded a tumorigenic strain while two solvent controls gave rise to long-term strains that were nonmalignant. All strains examined showed the presence of intercellular intermediate junctions, an epithelial marker. No morphological feature distinguished tumorigenic from nontumorigenic strains. Growth rate in monolayer culture and growth in semisolid medium were investigated as potential correlates of tumorigenicity in 16 morphologically altered epidermal cell strains. Although the tumorigenic cell strains showed a trend toward shorter doubling times, rapid growth in monolayer culture was not a consistent correlate of tumorigenicity. In contrast, colony formation in 0.33% agar medium consistently correlated with tumorigenicity, with all tumorigenic strains positive and all nontumorigenic strains negative. Colonyforming efficiency in soft agar, a parameter that was influenced by initial cell density and serum concentration, did not consistently parallel the degree of tumorigenicity.

¹ Supported in part by Institutional Research Grant 1N-40-0 to the University of Michigan from the American Cancer Society and NIH Grants AM 05268 and AM 15206.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Experimental Pathology Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Md. 20014.

Received 6/27/77. Accepted 11/23/77.

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