title: Tumour minicells: single, large vesicles released from cultured mastocytoma cells.
abstract: We describe a new type of cell fragmentation in P815Y mastocytoma cells yielding one, large, enucleated 'minicell' at a time per parent tumour cell. These tumour minicells (TMC) arise spontaneously in semi-synthetic medium during early stationary phase of the growth curve. Their diameter comprises 21-30% of that of the parent cell line. Separated from parent tumour cells, they are non-tumorigenic. TMC can induce cytotoxic T cell activity against the parent tumour cell line greater cytotoxicity being observed against the P815Y line than an H-2-identical line, L1210. TMC may provide a new tool adaptable to the study of host-tumour relationships, cell size regulation or the mechanistic aspects of cell membrane function.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D002458:Cell Fractionation / Q000379:methods; D002460:Cell Line; D003470:Culture Media; D008297:Male; D012515:Mast-Cell Sarcoma / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014185:Transplantation, Isogeneic
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media