A survey of growth in soft agar and cell surface properties as markers for transformation in adult rat liver epithelial-like cell cultures.

Continuous epithelial-like cell lines derived from normal adult rat liver and hepatocarcinomas were evaluated for their growth in soft agar and five properties of the cell membrane as markers for neoplastic transformation. A correlation of these properties was made to the tumorigenicity of the lines in nude mice. Growth in soft agar was a specific and sensitive marker, whereas the data on uptake of 2-deoxy-D-glucose were consistent, with high uptake being a specific but clearly not a sensitive marker. Agglutination and hemadsorption mediated by concanavalin A, multinucleation in the presence of cytochalasin B, and the cell membrane activity of adenosine triphosphatase did not correlate with tumorigenicity of the other markers for transformation. In addition, it is shown that Mycoplasma infection does not alter any of these properties but that infection can be eliminated by passage of cells through nude mice.