A comparison of interfollicular and hair follicle derived cells as targets for the v-rasHa oncogene in mouse skin carcinogenesis.

Methods to isolate and culture intact mouse hair follicles and interfollicular epidermal cells provide a model to test the potential of each to form tumors as a consequence of rasHa gene activation and to determine the risk for progression in the resultant tumors. The v-rasHa oncogene was introduced into intact or dissociated hair follicle cells or interfollicular epidermal cells from newborn mouse skin via a defective retroviral vector. Either immediately after infection or after an additional 6 days of culture, the v-rasHa cells were transferred to nude mice as a skin graft. Both cell populations formed squamous papillomas which were indistinguishable based on morphology and immunocytochemistry. All papillomas expressed epidermal specific markers whether derived from hair follicle or interfollicular cells, and many regressed. After 16 weeks in vivo, 20-30% of the benign skin tumors in all groups converted to malignancy. In addition to papillomas, hair follicle derived populations produced hemangiomas in many animals. None of the groups formed basal cell carcinomas, keratoacanthomas or tumors with characteristics of differentiating hair follicle cells. These studies indicate that ras gene activation can contribute to benign squamous neoplasia originating from several skin-derived cell types. The underlying factors which determine the variable risk for neoplastic progression of skin papillomas after ras gene activation is not simply the origin of the tumor cell from hair follicle or interfollicular epidermis. The activated ras oncogene can also transform skin endothelial cells but does not appear to directly contribute to transformation of the more differentiated cells of the hair follicle.