Spontaneous hybridization of macrophages and Meth A sarcoma cells

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Abstract
We present evidence of hybridization between Meth A sarcoma cells and syngeneic as well as semigeneic peritoneal macrophages. The resultant hybrids are characterized by morphology, membrane markers, ploidy, chromosomal content and functional features. Briefly, after a few days of coculture, cells appeared with morphology intermediate between the 2 original cell types. Typical macrophage surface molecules appeared in the hybrids. Meth A cells were labeled with red fluorescence and macrophages with green fluorescence. After 4 days in vitro, hybrids with yellow fluorescence appeared. Macrophages from BALB.K mice (H‐2 Kk) were cocultivated with Meth A cells from BALB/c mice (H‐2 Kd). The semigeneic hybrids displayed both specificities, as demonstrated by flow cytometry. The hybrids appeared moderately phagocytic, less so than the macrophages and markedly more so than the essentially nonphagocytic Meth A cells. The hybrids had a mean number of 76 chromosomes, as opposed to 53 in the Meth A cells and 40 in the macrophages. The macrophage DNA index was set at 1; Meth A cells were found to have an index of 1.6 in G1 phase, and the hybrids had a 2.6 index. The hybrids grew more slowly in vitro than Meth A cells, but grew faster in vivo.

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