Suppression of tumorigenicity in temperature-sensitive mutants of embryonal carcinoma cells by induction of cell differentiation at non-permissive temperature.

Abstract

The temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants of cell differentiation derived from the mouse teratocarcinoma cell line F9, when exposed to non-permissive temperature, undergo stem-cell differentiation concomitant with a transient retardation of cell-cycle progression. By incubating these mutant strains at non-permissive temperature, we were able to study the relationship between cell differentiation and tumorigenicity. Upon exposure to non-permissive temperature, the mutant cells undergo extensive differentiation and lose their ability to initiate tumors in vivo, but retain their in vitro proliferative potential. Our data suggest that the loss of tumorigenicity is not caused by altered proliferative potential, but rather by cell differentiation. We therefore suggest that the loss of proliferative potential and the onset of cell differentiation in teratocarcinoma F9 cells are 2 independent events which can be genetically dissected, and that there is (a) crucial step(s) in the differentiation pathway at which these ts mutant cells lose their tumorigenicity.