title: Neoplastic transformation of a human keratinocyte cell line by the v-fos oncogene.
abstract: To analyze the role of the fos oncogene in the growth of human epithelial cells, we have transfected a non-tumorigenic human epidermal keratinocyte line (RHEK-1) immortalized by the Ad12-SV40 hybrid virus with a plasmid carrying the v-fos gene together with plasmid pSV2-neo which confers resistance to neomycin. Individual neomycin-resistant clones were isolated and characterized with respect to morphological alteration. Of 16 independent clones analyzed, two appeared morphologically transformed and formed foci in culture. Only the two clones with a transformed phenotype were found by Southern blot hybridization analysis to contain the transfected v-fos gene. These clones formed colonies in soft agar and induced tumors when transplanted into nude mice. Analysis of fos specific mRNA and protein demonstrated that the transfected v-fos gene was expressed in these two clonal lines. These findings suggest that expression of the v-fos gene might facilitate the process of neoplastic transformation of human epithelial cells in culture. This appears to represent the first demonstration of the transforming potential of the v-fos gene in human cells.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Salehi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arnstein
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jay
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Rhim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D016762:Genes, fos; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D014162:Transfection