Characterization of two clones isolated from the tc‐1 murine marrow stromal cell line: Growth factor and retrovirus production and physical support of hemopoiesis

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Abstract
We previously reported the isolation of an adherent murine marrow cell line termed TC-1, and the initial characterization of two subclones derived from this line. In this study we report a further characterization of two subclones from the non-cloned TC-1 cell line. One subclone, TC-1-C-3, consisted of large, slow-growing syncytial polypoid cells that grew to relatively low saturation densities, did not form colonies in soft agar and showed desmosome-like junctions. The other subclone, TC-1-C-U, consisted of smaller, rapidly growing fibroblast-like diploid cells which showed anchorage-independent growth in soft agar. Both these subclones produced growth factors which stimulated giant macrophage colonies in soft agar culture in vitro, but only the TC-l-C-3 subclone produced a retrovirus, whose source was most likely the endogenous ecotropic Emv-2 provirus present in chromosomal DNA in C57BL mice. This retrovirus from the TC-1-C-3 subclone did not appear capable of transforming TC-1-C-U cells. Together, these data suggest that TC-1-C-3 cells have a special capacity for supporting hemopoiesis. The question of whether the mechanism of this support relates to an intrinsic property of the cell or is possibly related to retrovirus production remains unanswered.

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