A novel class of unstable 6-thioguanine-resistant cells from dog and human kidneys.

Thioguanine-resistant primary clones were grown from single cell suspensions obtained from dog and human kidneys by enzymatic digestion. In medium containing a relatively high concentration (10 micrograms/ml) of thioguanine, thioguanine-resistant primary clones arose from each source at frequencies ranging from 10(-4) to 10(-5). A reduction in total hypoxanthine uptake was found in the thioguanine-resistant primary clones which had developed in thioguanine medium, consistent with a reduction in hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase activity. When these thioguanine-resistant primary clones were subsequently grown in the absence of thioguanine and assayed for the thioguanine-resistant phenotype and hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase activity, it was found that most were now thioguanine-sensitive and yielded cell-free extracts with substantial amounts of hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase activity. In contrast, thioguanine-resistant human clones grown continuously in the presence of thioguanine yielded cell-free extracts with little or no detectable hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase activity. Southern blot analysis demonstrated no structural alterations in the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase gene in thioguanine-resistant primary human kidney clones. These results suggest that a novel mechanism(s) for thioguanine resistance and the control of hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase expression may occur in dog and human kidney cells.