No abstract

The trophic effects of the hormone gastrin-17 were examined on a human colon cancer cell line. LoVo cells were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection and grown in minimal essential medium in the presence of 10% bovine fetal serum. To demonstrate the trophic effect of gastrin, synchronization was necessary. The effect of gastrin was optimal after 26-h exposure to 0.6 mM thymidine. In the presence of serum the optimal dose of gastrin for stimulation of DNA synthesis was 7.2 X 10(-10) M. Under these conditions gastrin caused a 220% increase in [3H]thymidine incorporation. In the absence of serum the optimal dose of gastrin (3.6 X 10(-9) M) increased DNA synthesis approximately 200%. Twenty-four hours after gastrin treatment (1.8 X 10(-10) M gastrin 17) cell numbers increased 50.8% compared with control. At 48 h this increase was maintained at 44%. Maximum stimulation by gastrin occurred 7-8 h after release from synchronization and exposure to gastrin. This corresponded to the S phase of the cell cycle. Significant stimulation occurred a second time at 22-24 h, presumably during the second S phase in a still synchronous or partially synchronous cell population. These data demonstrate that physiological concentrations of gastrin-17 can stimulate the growth of a human cancer cell line and that some degree of synchronization may be necessary to demonstrate similar effects in other cell lines. Such cell lines may provide a source of rapidly growing cells in which the mechanisms of the trophic effect of gastrin can be examined.

A long-term ovarian carcinoma cell line is described in terms of its morphology, original histopathology, electron microscopic features and chromosome features before and after transplantation into an athymic nude mouse. The microscopic features of the tumor nodule grown in the nude mouse are compared with the original pathology. Epithelial characteristics of the cells were maintained in culture and after retrieval from the nude mouse. Three markers were identified in all karyotypes and trisomy was noted in chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 12, 16, and X and monosomy of 17 and 21.

We report on a boy with excessively wrinkled skin, mild micro/brachycephaly with mild hydrocephalus and slightly small temporal lobes, apparently low-set ears, retro/micrognathia and cleft soft palate (Pierre-Robin anomaly), patent ductus arteriosus and foramen ovale, pulmonary hypoplasia, eventration of the left hemidiaphragm, right cryptorchidism, a sacral dimple, flexion contractures of fingers and knees, and equinovarus deformities of both feet. The infant had a de novo dir dup(1)(pter-->q25::q12-->qter). Partial duplications involving proximal 1q have rarely been reported. Furthermore, this is the first case of proximal duplication of chromosome 1q with unequivocal identification using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with a chromosome 1 painting probe.

We report on a black male child with congenital hypoplasia of the adrenal gland (CHA) with a de novo duplication of 5p [dir dup(5) (p13.3-->p15.1)], confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). In addition to a characteristic clinical course, the patient has hyperpigmentation (melanoderma) since birth, normal external genitalia, marked elevation of ACTH, and absent response to an IV ACTH challenge. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of congenital hypoplasia of the adrenal gland associated with a chromosome abnormality. Reviews of dup (5p) and of our patient suggest that duplication of 5p13.3-pter has only minor phenotypic effect, while duplication of the relatively small critical segment p11-p13.2 apparently causes far more deleterious changes. The concurrence of CHA and dup(5p) in our patient may indicate the possible gene localization of an autosomal form of CHA to either at or near 5p13.3 or 5p15.1.

Cells of the mouse L strain and the Chinese hamster CHO line were treated with 33258 Hoechst, rubidazone, and a combination of these. Recovering cell populations following the drug removal exhibited a high frequency (20–50%) of metaphases with diplochromosomes (endoreduplication), especially in the combination treatment series (up to more than 70% in the L strain). Such a procedure should be useful in probing the mechanisms of the endoreduplication process.

No abstract

Karyotype analyses were done on cells from the primary and metastatic sites, as well as on the ascitic fluid, from 1 patient with serous carcinoma of the ovary. An increase in the proportion of near-tetraploid cells occurred in the following order: cells from the primary site less than cells from the metastatic site less than cells from ascitic fluid. In addition, two new marker chromosomes appeared among the polyploid cells of ascitic fluid.