A minority of carcinoma cells producing acidic fibroblast growth factor induces a community effect for tumor progression.

It is generally accepted that primary tumors become heterogeneous as a consequence of tumor-cell genetic instability. Clonal dominance has been shown to occur in some experimental models allowing a subpopulation of cells to overgrow the primary heterogeneous tumor and to metastasize. Alternatively, interactions among coexisting tumor subpopulations may contribute to the emergence of a malignant invasive primary solid tumor. We asked the question whether emergence of carcinoma cells producing a growth/dissociating factor within a tumor cell population may be a determinant for tumor progression and for clonal dominance. To mimic such a situation, we have investigated the impact of tumor subpopulation heterogeneity in an in vivo model in which mixtures of carcinoma cells that differ in their ability to produce acidic fibroblast growth factor are injected into nude mice. Our data indicate that a growth-factor-producing cell subpopulation can confer increased tumorigenicity to an entire cell population and subsequently elicit a shorter delay for appearance of metastasis. A community effect via cell interactions may account for a heterogeneous tumor cell population rather than clonal dominance during progression of certain tumor types.