METHIONINE REQUIREMENT AND REPLACEMENT BY HOMOCYSTEINE IN TISSUE-CULTURES OF SELECTED RODENT AND HUMAN MALIGNANT AND NORMAL CELLS

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  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 38  (8) , 2259-2262
Abstract
An absolute methionine requirement for cell growth in culture was observed in 4 experimental mouse and rat neoplasms, namely, P815/ara-C mastocytoma, L1210 leukemia, lymphoma 5178Y and Walker 256. Normal human fibroblast (F-136-35-56) and the human malignant cell lines HeLa cervical cancer and mammary adenocarcinoma (AIAb) cells in culture showed equal growth in 0.1 mM L-methionine or 0.1-0.4 mM DL-homocysteine. A human pancreas adenocarcinoma (Capan-1) had somewhat more stringent requirements for DL-homocysteine, whereas a human lung adenocarcinoma (A-549) responded poorly, and a human acute lymphoblastic leukemia (CCRF-HSB-2) responded not at all to equimolar or excess DL-homocysteine in the absence of L-methionine. These differences in requirement for methionine and the ability or inability to replace methionine by homocysteine indicate that a general discrimination between benign and malignant tissues on the grounds of their methionine requirement is not possible for human cells.