In the present study we have analyzed the genetic regulation of increased expression of transformationassociated traits, a process termed progression, in adenovirus type 5 (Ad5)-transformed secondary rat embryo cells. Somatic cell hybrids were formed between a highly progressed neomycin-resistant Ad5-transformed cloned cell line (Ell-NMT'") and an untransformed chloramphenicol-resistant rat embryo fibroblast cell line (CREFCIP). Parental Ell-NMT"e°cells grew with high efficiency in agar, exhibited reduced 125I-epidermal growth factor (EGF) binding, and were tumorigenic in nude mice. Parental CREFP cells exhibited phenotypes opposite to those of E11-NMT'e°cells. A high proportion (84%) of the presumptive hybrid cell types obtained after fusion and genetic selection (G418 and chloramphenicol) displayed a flat morphological phenotype intermediate between CREFCaP and Ell-NMTn" cells, suggesting that a trans-dominant extinction phenomenon had occurred. Two hybrids with a round morphology (R), which stil exhibited the progressed phenotype, and two hybrids with a flat morphology (F), which had lost the progressed phenotype, were chosen for detailed analysis. Both R hybrids grew efficiently in agar, exhibited low 125I-EGF binding, and were tumorigenic in nude mice, whereas both F hybrids grew poorly in agar, displayed increased 125I-EGF binding in comparison with Ell-NMTneo and R hybrids, and were nontumorigenic in nude mice. An analysis of the viral DNA integration patterns and the rates of transcription, steady-state mRNA accumulation, and relative levels of the Ad5 ElA and E1B gene products revealed no differences among the parental and hybrid cells. These studies indicate that normal CREF cells may contain a suppressor gene(s) which can inhibit the expression of specific traits of the progression phenotype in AdS-transformed cells and that this suppression is not associated with changes in the expression of AdS transforming genes.Although recent advances have led to a better understanding of the potential role of defined genetic elements in the etiology of cancer, the molecular details by which a cell becomes transformed and ultimately evolves into a population of cells possessing tumorigenic and metastatic potential have not been delineated (reviewed in references 9, 24, and 27). Transforming genes (oncogenes) have been isolated and characterized from viral and mammalian tumor cell genomes which when transferred and expressed in appropriate recipient cells display a dominant-acting phenotype (reviewed in references 2 and 4). In addition to these dominant-acting transforming genetic elements in the genomes of certain tumor cells, several lines of experimental evidence indicate that specific genes exist in normal eucaryotic cells which may function as inhibitors of expression of the transformed phenotype and tumor formation, and these have been referred to as suppressor genes, repressor genes, antioncogenes, or emerogenes (1,3,18,23,28,36). Evidence supporting the existence of suppressor genes has come from (i) the a...

Melanogenesis in mammalian pigment cells is regulated by changes in the activity of tyrosinase, the rate-limiting enzyme for melanin synthesis. Because recent evidence suggests that this enzyme may exist in pigment cells in both active and inactive stages, a competitive enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to compare tyrosinase levels in amelanotic and melanotic melanoma cell clones. The melanotic cell line used for this study, MEL-11A, had basal tyrosinase levels approximately 40 times that of the amelanotic cell line, AM-7. Both cell lines responded to melanocyte-stimulating hormone by demonstrating large increases in tyrosinase activity. For competitive ELISA analysis of tyrosinase levels in these two clones, microtiter plates were coated with purified tyrosinase, and trypsinized cell extracts were tested for their ability to compete with bound tyrosinase for antibody binding. Although tyrosinase activity in the amelanotic clone was 1/40 that of the melanotic clone, immunoreactive tyrosinase levels in AM-7 cells were found to be approximately one-half that present in the melanotic clone. Additional evidence for the presence of an inactive (or at least, catalytically less active) enzyme in AM-7 cells was obtained from immunotitration analysis of tyrosinase in cell extracts from both cell lines. These results suggest that at least some amelanotic melanoma cells may contain significant levels of catalytically inactive tyrosinase molecules and that the level of pigmentation in mammalian melanocytes may be regulated by a tyrosinase activation process.

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In the present study we have analyzed the genetic regulation of increased expression of transformation-associated traits, a process termed progression, in adenovirus type 5 (Ad5)-transformed secondary rat embryo cells. Somatic cell hybrids were formed between a highly progressed neomycin-resistant Ad5-transformed cloned cell line (E11-NMTneo) and an untransformed chloramphenicol-resistant rat embryo fibroblast cell line (CREFcap). Parental E11-NMTneo cells grew with high efficiency in agar, exhibited reduced 125I-epidermal growth factor (EGF) binding, and were tumorigenic in nude mice. Parental CREFcap cells exhibited phenotypes opposite to those of E11-NMTneo cells. A high proportion (84%) of the presumptive hybrid cell types obtained after fusion and genetic selection (G418 and chloramphenicol) displayed a flat morphological phenotype intermediate between CREFcap and E11-NMTneo cells, suggesting that a trans-dominant extinction phenomenon had occurred. Two hybrids with a round morphology (R), which still exhibited the progressed phenotype, and two hybrids with a flat morphology (F), which had lost the progressed phenotype, were chosen for detailed analysis. Both R hybrids grew efficiently in agar, exhibited low 125I-EGF binding, and were tumorigenic in nude mice, whereas both F hybrids grew poorly in agar, displayed increased 125I-EGF binding in comparison with E11-NMTneo and R hybrids, and were nontumorigenic in nude mice. An analysis of the viral DNA integration patterns and the rates of transcription, steady-state mRNA accumulation, and relative levels of the Ad5 E1A and E1B gene products revealed no differences among the parental and hybrid cells. These studies indicate that normal CREF cells may contain a suppressor gene(s) which can inhibit the expression of specific traits of the progression phenotype in Ad5-transformed cells and that this suppression is not associated with changes in the expression of Ad5 transforming genes.