B. Hukku et Js. Rhim, ROLE OF CHROMOSOME-5 IN IMMORTALIZATION AND TUMORIGENESIS OF HUMAN KERATINOCYTES, Cancer genetics and cytogenetics, 68(1), 1993, pp. 22-31
Rhim et al. were first to show that superinfection of Ad12-SV40-infect
ed immortalized human epidermal cell with an RNA tumor virus containin
g a ras oncogene, such as Ki-MSV, or their treatment with chemical car
cinogens, leads to the ability of cells to both grow in anchorage-inde
pendent fashion and to form tumors in athymic nude mice. We describe d
etails of the chromosome changes observed during the transformation. T
he culture was monitored through 40 passages after Ad12-SV40 infection
. Chromosomes 9 and 11 showed random monosomy during the initial stage
s, but by passage 10 clonal evolution of the cell line was well establ
ished. Observed chromosome monosomy/trisomy coupled with chromosome re
arrangements (identified as chromosomes A through F) were monosomy 13,
loss of p arms of 8 and 10, partial loss of 5 (del(5)(q13) and of the
q arm of 18(del(18)(q12)), and extra copies of 11q, 20 and 21. During
its progression to tumorigenicity, a derived chromosome E containing
a segment of 5q, also appeared to play a major role. The cells remaine
d immortalized as long as the 5q segment was present in some of the ce
ll population as derived chromosomes E or F Derivative chromosome E sh
owed noteworthy changes during the progression to tumorigenicity, in b
oth viral and chemical transformations. There was loss of heterozygosi
ty of 5q due to an exchange of 5q with chromosomes E or F. In Ki-MSV-
and 4NQO-transformed cells, presence of an altered chromosome E (ident
ified as E1) was observed. In MNNG-treated cells, there was a selectio
n of population of cells with further alteration in chromosome E (iden
tified as E3). Besides alterations in chromosome E, additional chromos
ome changes leading to gene activation and amplification indicating a
multistep progression to tumorigenicity were observed. The cytogenetic
data reiterate the ever-increasing need for molecular analysis of non
random karyotype changes.