Correlation of in vivo malignancy with in vitro properties of human-mouse hybrid cells.

Abstract

The in vivo tumorigenicity of malignant mouse-nonmalignant human somatic cell hybrids was correlated with the in vitro characteristics. The renal adenocarcinoma mouse cell line RAG and the normal, diploid human cell line Wl-38 were used as the fusion parents. Five independent RAG Wl 38 hybrid clones were tested for concanavalin A (Con A) agglutination patterns, in vitro invasiveness, and tumor formation in immunosuppressed mice. Tests on the parental lines showed that RAG cells agglutinated at much lower levels of Con A than the Wl-38 cells. RAG cells overgrew Wl-38 cells in the in vitro invasiveness assay. RAG cells readily formed tumors in untreated adult or young immunosuppressed mice, whereas the Wl-38 cells did not. The five hybrid clones were all similar, since they had Con A agglutination levels intermediate to those of both parents, though patterns were more "tumor-like", overgrew the Wl-38 cells in the invasiveness assay, and formed tumors in immunosuppressed mice.