Functional and morphological effects of tumour necrosis factor alpha in an interleukin 6-producing pulmonary large cell carcinoma with sarcomatoid features.

We established a clonal cell line, HAT.MC8, derived from a human pulmonary large cell carcinoma with sarcomatoid features. This cell line was successfully maintained in a protein-free medium and exhibited sarcomatoid fibroblastic features in vitro. The cells constitutively produced a large amount of interleukin 6 (IL-6) in vitro. Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) not only stimulated HAT.MC8 cells to produce IL-6, but also induced a morphological change from sarcomatoid fibroblastic to epithelial features. Although this change was related to actin and zonula adherens, there was no evidence that E-cadherin participated in the change. Interleukin 1 beta (IL-1 beta) had a stimulatory effect on IL-6 production by HAT.MC8 cells, but no influence on the morphology of the cells.