Mechanisms of TNF resistance: identification of membrane phosphoproteins associated with a dominant resistant phenotype in lymphoid-myeloid somatic cell hybrids.

Analysis of 53 somatic cell hybrids between TNF-sensitive myeloid cells (U937) and TNF-resistant T-cell lines HUT78 (UH-hybrids) and Jurkat (UJ-hybrids), respectively, revealed complete resistance to TNF-mediated cytostasis in all cases. Moreover, all hybrids remained insensitive to a combined treatment with TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma, which exert synergistic growth inhibition and cytotoxicity on parental U937 cells. Analyses of cell surface marker expression, membrane phosphoproteins, and expression of tissue-specific cytokine genes revealed differential conservation of myeloid and T-cell-specific properties in each of these hybrids, but invariant, dominant resistance to TNF-alpha-mediated growth inhibition. All TNF-resistant hybrids expressed a membrane phosphoprotein pattern, which closely resembled that of the respective parental T-cell lines. In particular, two membrane phosphoproteins of apparent molecular weight of 50,000 and 38,000 were common in the two parental T-cell lines and all UH- and UJ-hybrid clones, suggesting a possible role of these proteins in mediating TNF resistance.