Hormonal dependence of DNA synthesis in mammary carcinoma cells in vitro.

Explants of C3H-mouse and rat R3230AC mammary carcinomas were cultured on chemically defined medium for study of the effects of the hormonal environment on synthesis of DNA. Synthesis in the more slowly proliferating C3H carcinoma cells is stimulated by insulin and inhibited by estrogenic hormones as in normal mammary epithelial cells. Rat R3230AC mammary carcinoma cells can initiate synthesis of DNA independently of insulin or estrogenic hormones. Autonomous growth with respect to these hormonal controls correlates with rapid proliferation, but it is not an essential characteristic of the neoplastic mammary cell.