International Journal of Cell Cloning, Vol 6, 125-145, Copyright © 1988 by AlphaMed Press
Characterization of two clones isolated from the TC-1 murine marrow stromal cell line: growth factor and retrovirus production and physical support of hemopoiesis
ZX Song, C Thomas, D Innes, A Waheed, RK Shadduck and PJ Quesenberry
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville 22908.
We previously reported the isolation of an adherent murine marrow cell line
termed TC-1, and the initial characterization of two subclones derived from
this line. In this study we report a further characterization of two
subclones from the non-cloned TC-1 cell line. One subclone, TC-1-C-3,
consisted of large, slow-growing syncytial polypoid cells that grew to
relatively low saturation densities, did not form colonies in soft agar and
showed desmosome-like junctions. The other subclone, TC-1-C-11, consisted
of smaller, rapidly growing fibroblast-like diploid cells which showed
anchorage-independent growth in soft agar. Both these subclones produced
growth factors which stimulated giant macrophage colonies in soft agar
culture in vitro, but only the TC-1-C-3 subclone produced a retrovirus,
whose source was most likely the endogenous ecotropic Emv-2 provirus
present in chromosomal DNA in C57BL mice. This retrovirus from the TC-1-C-3
subclone did not appear capable of transforming TC-1-C-11 cells. Together,
these data suggest that TC-1-C-3 cells have a special capacity for
supporting hemopoiesis. The question of whether the mechanism of this
support relates to an intrinsic property of the cell or is possibly related
to retrovirus production remains unanswered.
