Intraspecies somatic cell hybrids of BALB/c mouse 3T3 and SV40-transformed embryonic fibroblast (SVT2) cells were analyzed for transformation-associated properties and their tumorigenic potential in nude mice. In confirmation of our earlier findings, hybrids expressing the viral T-antigen were not suppressed for the ability to clone in medium with 1 serum. In contrast, division rate in medium with 1 or 10 serum, anchorage independence, cytochalasin-sensitive growth control, and tumorigenicity were suppressed noncoordinately, and the extent of suppression varied from one hybrid to another. Suppression was not simply determined by the increased chromosome content of the hybrid cells, nor was suppression correlated with rearrangements of the integrated viral sequence (Sager et al., 1981a, b). Similar results were found in cytoplasmic transferants expressing T-antigen. Four independent transferants and subclones derived from them varied in the extent of suppression of anchorage independence and tumorigenicity. In both hybrids and transferants, a low serum requirement for clonal growth apparantly was determined solely by expression of SV40 T-antigen, but other transformation properties, as well as tumorigenicity, appeared to require multiple changes in the cellular genome for their expression. These changes must occur during or after viral integration, since they are not expressed in uninfected 3T3 cells.
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