Response of carcinogen-altered mouse epidermal cells to phorbol ester tumor promoters and calcium.

Primary cultures of mouse epidermal cells are induced to terminally differentiate when extracellular calcium levels are increased to more than 0.1 mM. After carcinogen treatment, cellular foci can be selected that resist this calcium signal to terminally differentiate. Calcium causes these foci to stratify; however, in contrast to normal epidermis, DNA-synthesizing cells in these foci are found in the suprabasal cell layers as well as in basal cells. Cell lines derived from these foci may be considered to be putative initiated cells. Three of these cell lines, designated 308, D, and F, have been characterized for their response to calcium and phorbol ester tumor promoters. The formation of cornified cells and the activity of epidermal transglutaminase were utilized as markers of epidermal differentiation. Neither calcium nor the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) increased transglutaminase activity or cornification of any of the 3 lines. Proliferation was estimated by the [3H]thymidine labeling index, by incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA, and by a clonal growth assay. Unlike primary normal cultures, raising the calcium level of the medium did not markedly reduce the rate of proliferation of any of the 3 cell lines. In 2 of the lines, line 308 and line D, proliferation increased in response to TPA exposure. In line F, [3H]thymidine incorporation in confluent cultures was inhibited by TPA, while in cells plated at clonal densities, TPA was cytotoxic at doses of 5 ng/ml or higher. If these calcium-resistant epidermal cell lines correspond to initiated cells, their lack of sensitivity to the induction of terminal differentiation by TPA could account for their growth relative to normal cells. Those lines that also respond to stimulation of proliferation by TPA to a greater extent than normal cells would have a further growth advantage.