Osservazioni su Generazioni Successive di Tumori Prodotti in Criceti con Inoculo di Cellule Trasformate da SV40

Abstract

This paper describes some important features of successive generations of tumors produced in hamsters by inoculation of SV40-transformed cells (C12TSV5 and RHaT), and presents data indicating the correlation among increased percentage of polykaryocytes in the tumor primary cell cultures, increased capacity of cells for fusion, and the production of metastases. According to our knowledge this correlation has not yet been described in tumor biology. The data presented also suggest that the large polykaryocytes from tumor primary cell cultures do not multiply and that they are particularly affected by most experimental procedures. Thus they appear to perish or be drastically reduced in cultures of cells submitted to centrifugation, freezing procedures for routine cells preservation and even trypsination. Our observations also show that cell morphology, SV40 rescuability, and T-antigen appear to be among the features which are not lost in transformed cells throughout in vivo passages. Furthermore, a theory is discussed in an attempt to explain, in part, the local growth of the tumor as well as the occurrence of metastases in the hamster, particularly those at the lymph node level.