Consistent Chromosome Abnormalities Associated with Mouse Bladder Epithelial Cell Lines Transformed in Vitro

Nine epithelial tumor cell lines that were derived from inbred C57BL/lcrf-at adult male mouse bladder and were transformed in vitro were cytogenetically analyzed. Most cell lines were near-diploid and showed only minor karyotypic deviations from normal. Tetraploid cell lines showed duplication of chromosome markers, which suggested that they arose originally as near-diploid cell lines with minor karyotypic changes. Chromosome abnormalities were consistent among different cell lines and involved chromosomes #6, #3, and #15. The Y-chromosome was frequently missing. Identical chromosome abnormalities were present in cell lines that arose in control, dimethyl sulfoxide-treated, or 7, 12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene-treated cultures. The most frequent abnormality was was the presence of three copies (trisomy) of chromosome #6. Few structural chromosome abnormalities were detected, although a marker chromosome derived from chromosome #3 was present in several cell lines. Two cell lines had excesses of chromosome #15. These results suggest that excesses of individual chromosomes or parts of chromosomes, particularly chromosome #6, may be important in the expression of the malignant phenotype in mouse bladder epithelium.