Increased level of amplification of the c-myc oncogene in tumors induced in nude mice by a human breast carcinoma cell line.

Cell line SW 613-S, derived from a human breast carcinoma, contained double minute chromosomes (DMs) but lost them progressively upon in vitro cultivation. These cells were tumorigenic in nude mice. Cell lines were derived from the tumors and were found to have a high DM content. In three such cell lines, DMs were stably maintained upon in vitro cultivation, whereas in another they were progressively lost. We found that the c-myc oncogene is amplified 5- to 10-fold in SW 613-S and 20- to 90-fold in the different cell lines derived from the tumors. At least part of the additional c-myc copies were found associated with a purified DM fraction. In cell lines which lost the DMs during in vitro passages, the level of amplification was maintained. In situ hybridization experiments indicated that this loss was compensated by the acquisition of copies of the c-myc gene integrated into a chromosome. No major rearrangement of the amplified c-myc gene was detected. The amount of c-myc messenger RNAs is roughly proportional to the level of amplification. Our results indicate that growth of SW 613-S cells as tumors in nude mice selected cells with an increased level of amplification and expression of the c-myc oncogene.