Selective toxicity induced by picolinic acid in simian virus 40-transformed cells in tissue culture.

When cultured normal and SV40-transformed normal rat kidney and BALB/3T3 cells were exposed to picolinic acid, cell proliferation ceases. Most of the normal cells remained in a quiescent G1 (G0) state and viable for prolonged periods of time. In contrast, SV40-transformed cells progressed to the S and G2 phases of the cell cycle and remained viable only up to 90 to 120 hr. Then, most of the cells began to die. However, a very small fraction of the cell population (approximately 0.01 percent) developed into variants resistant to picolinic acid. Prevention of development of variants, and therefore destruction of all transformed cells, was obtained by addition of glycerol to picolinic acid-treated cells. Untransformed cells were unaffected by the same treatment. These results suggest that differential tumor toxicity should be feasible.