17beta-Estradiol-induced cell transformation and aneuploidy of Syrian hamster embryo cells in culture.

The ability of 17 beta-estradiol to induce morphological transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells was examined and dose-dependent increases were observed over the concentration range of 1-10 micrograms/ml. However, treatment of the cells with 17 beta-estradiol failed to induce any detectable increases in gene mutations, chromosome aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges or unscheduled DNA synthesis. In contrast, over the dose range that was effective in inducing cell transformation, 17 beta-estradiol induced numerical chromosome changes (both chromosome gains and losses). These findings are similar to the reported observations with the synthetic estrogen, diethylstilbestrol, and support the hypothesis that aneuploidy induction is important in cell transformation and possibly carcinogenesis induced by estrogens.