Clonal variation in cultured neuroblastoma cells. I. Isolation and characterization of variants

Distinct mechanisms of cell cycle arrest control the decision between differentiation and senescence in human neuroblastoma cells

Retinoic acid (RA) induces cell cycle arrest and differentiation of human neuroblastoma (NB) cells. Typically, NB cells differentiate along the neuronal lineage, but quiescent, "flat" cell types frequently have been described after treatment with differentiating agents. Two indistinguishable subclones of the cell line SK-N-SH, SK-N-SH-N (SH-N) and SK-N-SH-F (SH-F), display dramatically different responses to RA. In SH-N, RA induces neuronal differentiation, but in SH-F it transforms the small neuroblastic cells into large, flattened, epithelium-like cells. Here we analyze the mechanistic basis for the different effects of RA in the two NB subclones. First, we show that the flattened RA-treated SH-F expresses markers of cells undergoing replicative senescence. Inhibition of DNA synthesis by RA is significantly more rapid in SH-F than in SH-N. SH-F, which expresses basal amounts of p16(INK4A), responds to RA with elevation of p18(INK4C), marked down-regulation of cyclin D1, and swift inhibition of cyclin D-dependent kinases (cdks). Conversely, after addition of RA, SH-N retains cell cycling due to high expression of cyclin D1, the absence of Ink4 inhibitors, and accumulation of p21(Cip1). These changes result in sustained cdk activity. Accordingly, overexpression of p21(Cip1) but not p16(INK4A) induces neuronal differentiation of untreated NB cells. We propose that rapid inhibition of cdks by RA in NB leads to early cell cycle arrest, prevents neuronal differentiation, and results in a senescence-like state.

Immune response to murine neuroblastoma: effects of in vitro culture of the tumor

The humoral and cellular immune response of neuroblastoma (NB)-bearing mice has been investigated and shown to be dependent on the treatment of the NB tumor cells before implantation. Established lines and clones derived from the original tumor, as well as C1300 cells passaged in vitro, provoke an immune reaction which differs markedly from the one induced by the original C1300 tumor. Indeed, only the latter induces the formation of high amounts of circulating immune complexes (CIC), is able to trigger peritoneal macrophages in the host and to induce suppression, as shown in mixed lymphocyte cultures. After subculture of the tumor cells in vitro, none of these effects were observed. The pattern of immune response produced by tumor cells grown in vitro can be converted into the original type of response by repeated passaging of the tumor cells in vivo.

Increase in clonal variation in Chinese hamster ovary cells after treatment with mutagens

Clonal variation has been studied in CHO cells. The variant phenotype was an altered morphology of clones in agar: the parental CHO cells give rise to solid clumps of cells (wild-type colonies); occasionally, dispersed colonies arise, and the cells display an invasive growth in agar (INGA-type colonies). The frequency of this altered phenotype can be enhanced by treatment with a variety of mutagens (EMS, ENU, 4NQO, N-Ac-AAF, ultraviolet light, and X-irradiation). Enhancement was not due to a selective killing of wild-type cells or to a side-effect of cytotoxicity, which suggests that DNA damage is the cause of the altered phenotype. The INGA-trait breeds true, but most of the isolated clones have an inherent instability.

Isopycnic density-gradient centrifugation: a separation parameter which improves flow cytometric measurements on heterogeneous tumors

The analytic and prognostic value of flow cytometric measurements can generally be improved by preseparation of cells. The present data demonstrate clearly the distinct character of bands obtained in density-gradient separation. Density-gradient centrifugation in Percoll after extensive Ca2+ + Mg2+ elimination helps to resolve more detail in flow cytometric measurements (e.g., additional DNA stem lines in human tumors) and can be used in studies of tumor heterogeneity. The significance of investigations of tumor heterogeneity is demonstrated by the different reactivity of subpopulations of the experimental murine tumor S 180 to vincristine.

Differences in inducibility of morphological differentiation of parental cells, selected variant cells and cells from spontaneous metastases of mouse neuroblastoma cells

The in vitro sensitivities to differentiating agents of a murine neuroblastoma cell line (N18) and a selected variant cell line (N18-LM5) were examined. In addition, the sensitivities to differentiating agents of cells from spontaneous metastases produced by N18 cells were examined. When N18 cells (1 X 10(5) cells/mouse) were injected into the lateral tail vein of syngeneic A/J mice, only a few metastatic nodules formed in the liver and lung, while similar injection of N18-LM5 cells produced larger numbers of metastatic nodules. Exposure of N18 cells to differentiating agents, such as dibutyryl cyclic 3':5'-AMP (db-cAMP), prostaglandin E1, and dexamethasone, resulted in induction of differentiation in terms of neurite extension. N18-LM5 cells responded to differentiating agents to a greater extent than N18 cells, and most of the cells extended neurites when they were exposed to 1 mM db-cAMP for 3 days. On the other hand, not all cell lines from spontaneous metastases produced by N18 cells responded to db-cAMP. These results suggest that the colonizing potential of neuroblastoma cells is not necessarily correlated with loss of responsiveness to differentiating agents and that various spontaneous metastases show heterogeneity in responsiveness to differentiating agents.