LOW COLONY FORMATION INVIVO AND IN CULTURE AS EXHIBITED BY METASTATIC MELANOMA-CELLS SELECTED FOR REDUCED HOMOTYPIC AGGREGATION

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 43  (5) , 2088-2093
Abstract
A subpopulation of cells unable to aggregate in the presence of a high concentration of asialofetuin (400 .mu.g/ml) was isolated from the murine B16-F1 melanoma cells which aggregate readily at low asialofetuin concentrations (> 0.3 .mu.g/ml). Cells of this variant cell line, designated B16-F1-NA, exhibited also a reduced tendency to undergo homotypic aggregation in the presence of syngeneic serum. In culture, the B16-F1-NA cells spread on solid substrata more than the B16-F1, formed more focal contacts, and proliferated at a slower exponential rate. The pattern of the major cell surface proteins and glycoproteins was similar in the parental and variant cells except for a minor glycoprotein with a MW of 150,000 which was labeled more intensely on the B16-F1 than on the B16-F1-NA cells. Colony formation in semisolid medium and the development of experimental metastases in the lungs of syngeneic mice were markedly reduced in the B16-F1-NA as compared with the parental cells. The ability to undergo aggregation in the presence of glycoproteins is an important property of malignant cells which may influence anchorage-independent growth and the formation of metastases.