The aim of this research was to establish whether or not mouse interferon could reverse the phenotype of transformed cells so that they behaved in a more normal manner. For this study, clonal isolates of transformed cells from two continuous cell lines and fibroblasts extracted from mouse embryos were used. It was found that interferon could inhibit the growth of both normal and transformed cells. With several transformed clones interferon also reduced their saturation densities, which were normally several fold higher than those of the non-transformed parents. This suggested that interferon had induced a partial reversion to density-dependent growth control. Butyric acid also inhibited growth rate and acted additively with interferon when cells were treated with the two agents together. Interferon had a variable effect on the ability of dispersed cells to form colonies on plastic substrate in liquid media, but had a consistently greater effect on the ability of transformed cells to form foci on a monolayer of normal cells, and to grow suspended in agar, two growth conditions specific to the transformed state. It was concluded that interferon had inhibited focus formation and growth in agar by a combination of its growth inhibitory activity and an effect specific for the transformed phenotype. Interferon also affected the morphology of both normal and transformed cells. The cells became more spread-out, and in transformed cells there was a partial restoration of the microfilament bundle system. Despite these effects on the cytoskeleton, the extracellular matrix of fibronectin fibrils appeared to be little altered by interferon, except when added in conjunction with butyric acid. Under these circumstances, the fibronectin matrix became much more extensive. These data increase the likelihood that interferon's in vivo antitumour activity involved a direct effect on the tumour cells themselves, such that these cells behave more normally.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:257490 |
| Date | January 1981 |
| Creators | Hicks, Nigel John |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/106749/ |
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