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Actin Filament Organization of the Dunning R3327 Rat Prostatic Adenocarcinoma System: Correlation with Metastatic Potential¹

Department of Surgery, Division of Urology [J. M. Z., R. M. W., F. A. F.] and Department of Radiology [G. C., L. K., T. L., L. N., E. V. S.], University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514; Department of Biophysics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218 [M. A. R., S. L.]; and Department of Physics, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27412 [G. C.]

Recently, Volk, Geiger, and Raz (Cancer Res., 44: 811–824, 1984) addressed the question of whether variations in actin organization in clones of the murine K-1735 melanoma tumor correlated with their metastatic capability. Using immunofluorescence techniques, they found that clones which had a more ordered actin network were less metastatic, whereas clones having a diffuse actin staining pattern were more metastatic. Similarly, we have found that in the Dunning rat R3327 prostatic adenocarcinoma tumor system, the non-metastatic (<0.1%) H-prostatic tumor cell line has a prominent network of actin filament bundles, whereas the highly metastatic (>90%) MatLyLu cell line has a diffuse actin staining pattern. In the low-metastatic (<10%) AT₁ cell line an intermediate actin organization between H and MatLyLu was observed.

Analysis of cell extracts from H- and MatLyLu-cells revealed differences in the level of activity of cellular proteins which affect actin filament assembly and structure in a manner similar to that of the cytochalasins, fungal metabolites which bind with high affinity to the fast-growing end of actin filaments. Extracts of MatLyLu were significantly more effective than those of H-cells in decreasing the extent of actin filament network formation and in inhibiting the rate of filament assembly by blocking monomer addition onto the fast-growing end. Measurements of spin-lattice nuclear magnetic resonance water proton relaxation times (T₁) were made in surgically removed tumor tissue from four sublines (H, AT₁, MatLyLu, and MatLu) of the Dunning R3327 tumor system. The highly metastatic cell lines had significantly longer water proton T₁ relaxation times than did the lines with low metastatic potential. These differences in T₁ may reflect the observed alterations in organization of actin filaments within these various sublines of the Dunning R3327 prostatic adenocarcinoma tumor system.

¹ This work was partially supported by research grants from the American Cancer Society (CD73 to S. L.) and the National Institutes of Health (GM-22289 to S. L. and CA-39633 to L. K.), by an institutional grant from the National Cancer Institute (CA 17973 to L. K.), and by a grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (84-076 to L. K.).

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received 11/26/84. Revised 7/24/85. Revised 9/30/85. Accepted 10/29/85.