Pdcd4 repression of lysyl oxidase inhibits hypoxia-induced breast cancer cell invasion.

Metastasis to bone, liver and lungs is the primary cause of death in breast cancer patients. Our studies have revealed that the novel tumor suppressor Pdcd4 inhibits breast cancer cell migration and invasion in vitro. Loss of Pdcd4 in human nonmetastatic breast cancer cells increased the expression of lysyl oxidase (LOX) mRNA. LOX is a hypoxia-inducible amine oxidase, the activity of which enhances breast cancer cell invasion in vitro and in vivo. Specific inhibition of LOX activity by beta-aminopropionitrile or small interfering RNA decreased the invasiveness of T47D and MCF7 breast cancer cells attenuated for Pdcd4 function. Most significantly, loss of Pdcd4 augments hypoxia induction of LOX as well. Conversely, overexpression of Pdcd4 significantly reversed the hypoxia induction of LOX expression in T47D cells attenuated for Pdcd4. However, Pdcd4 did not affect hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) protein expression or HIF-1-responsive element-luciferase activity in response to hypoxia, suggesting that Pdcd4 regulation of LOX occurs through an HIF-independent mechanism. Nevertheless, the loss of Pdcd4 early in cancer progression may have an important role in the increased sensitivity of cancer cells to hypoxia through increased LOX activity and concomitant enhanced invasiveness.

Transformation nonresponsive cells owe their resistance to lack of p65/nuclear factor-kappaB activation.

Clonal variants of mouse epidermal JB6 cells that are genetically susceptible (P+) or resistant (P-) to tumor promoter-induced neoplastic transformation exhibit differential activator protein-1 (AP-1) response. Transactivation of AP-1 appears to be necessary but not sufficient to promote transformation in JB6 cells. Inhibition of AP-1 is invariably accompanied by inhibition of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) when transformation is suppressed, suggesting that NF-kappaB may also play a role in neoplastic transformation. We report here that transactivation of NF-kappaB is inducible by tumor promoters in P+ but not in P- JB6 cells. Inhibition of NF-kappaB using a nondegradable mutant of IkappaBalpha suppressed inducible anchorage-independent transformation of P+ JB6 cells, suggesting that NF-kappaB activation is required for tumor promotion. Induced degradation of IkappaBalpha occurred in both P+ and P- JB6 cells, indicating that failure to activate NF-kappaB in P- JB6 cells cannot be attributed to failure to degrade IkappaBalpha. Slightly higher levels of nuclear p65 were seen in P+ than in P- JB6 cells. The p65-specific DNA binding activity was also higher in P+ cells upon induction by tumor necrosis factor-alpha, suggesting that differential NF-kappaB activation may be attributable to changes in p65 activity. Transactivation of p65 protein was substantially higher in P+ than in P- JB6 cells, as determined by assay of Gal4-p65 fusion constructs. Thus activated, p65 may be a limiting factor for NF-kappaB activation and transformation responses. Stable expression of p65 in P- JB6 cells conferred not only inducible NF-kappaB and AP-1 activation but also transformation response to tumor promoters. Therefore, p65/NF-kappaB appears to be not only necessary for but also sufficient to confer tumor promotion response. Although stable expression of p65 in P- cells produced p65 increases in whole cell extracts, only the transfectants exhibiting increased nuclear p65 showed transformation response. Thus, elevation of nuclear p65 appears to be a necessary step for a transformation response. The P-/p65 transfectants showing acquired transformation response also showed elevated p65-specific transactivation response, thus recapitulating the NF-kappaB phenotypes seen in P+ cells. Expression of a transactivation-deficient mutant of Jun or dominant-negative extracellular signal-regulated kinase suppressed both AP-1 activation and p65-specific transactivation in JB6 cells, suggesting that AP-1 activity is needed for p65 transactivation and consequently for NF-kappaB activation. Thus, the transformation nonresponsive P- JB6 cells owe their resistance to lack of NF-kappaB activation and p65 transactivation that appears in turn to be attributable to insufficient AP-1 activation.

cDNA cloning and mapping of mouse pleckstrin (Plek), a gene upregulated in transformation-resistant cells.

Changes that occur during tumor promotion, the rate-limiting phase of multistep carcinogenesis, may offer the best targets for prevention of cancer or reversal of early disease. The murine epidermal JB6 promotion-sensitive (P+) and -resistant (P-) cell lines provide a cell culture model for tumor promoter-induced neoplastic transformation ideally suited to the identification of molecular events that mediate or inhibit transformation. A differential display comparison of P+ and P- cell mRNAs yielded seven differentially expressed sequences. One of the sequences preferentially expressed in P- cells identified an approximately 3. 6-kb message that was induced to higher levels in P- cells following exposure to the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol acetate than in P+ cells. The message was detected in mRNA from heart, lung, and spleen. cDNA cloning of the P- preferential sequence revealed a high degree of identity to human pleckstrin (PLEK), the major PKC substrate in platelets (Tyers et al., 1988, Nature 333: 470). We report the complete mouse cDNA sequence of pleckstrin and the localization of the gene to chromosome 11, its expression in a nonhematopoetic cell line, and its potential role in blocking neoplastic transformation.

Differentially expressed protein Pdcd4 inhibits tumor promoter-induced neoplastic transformation.

An mRNA differential display comparison of mouse JB6 promotion-sensitive (P+) and -resistant (P-) cells identified a novel gene product that inhibits neoplastic transformation. The JB6 P+ and P- cells are genetic variants that differ in their transformation response to tumor promoters; P+ cells form anchorage-independent colonies that are tumorigenic, and P- cells do not. A differentially displayed fragment, A7-1, was preferentially expressed in P- cells at levels >/=10-fold those in P+ cells, making its mRNA a candidate inhibitor of neoplastic transformation. An A7-1 cDNA was isolated that was identical to murine Pdcd4 gene cDNAs, also known as MA-3 or TIS, and analogous to human H731 and 197/15a. Until now, the function of the Pdcd4 protein has been unknown. Paralleling the mRNA levels, Pdcd4 protein levels were greater in P- than in P+ cells. Pdcd4 mRNA was also expressed at greater levels in the less progressed keratinocytes of another mouse skin neoplastic progression series. To test the hypothesis that Pdcd4 inhibits tumor promoter-induced transformation, stable cell lines expressing antisense Pdcd4 were generated from parental P- cells. The reduction of Pdcd4 proteins in antisense lines was accompanied by acquisition of a transformation-sensitive (P+) phenotype. The antisense-transfected cells were reverted to their initial P- phenotype by overexpression of a Pdcd4 sense fragment. These observations demonstrate that the Pdcd4 protein inhibits neoplastic transformation.

Specific methylation events contribute to the transcriptional repression of the mouse tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-3 gene in neoplastic cells.

The tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-3 (TIMP-3) gene is specifically down-regulated in neoplastic cells of the mouse JB6 progression model, suggesting a role for TIMP-3 inactivation in neoplastic progression. On the basis of 5-azacytidine reversal, the mechanism for this down-regulation appears to involve changes in the methylation state of the TIMP-3 promoter. Although total genomic methylation levels are comparable, specific differences in the methylation of the TIMP-3 promoter were observed between preneoplastic and neoplastic JB6 cells at three Hpall sites, with preneoplastic cells being less methylated. Expression of antisense methyltransferase in a neoplastic JB6 variant known to be hypermethylated in TIMP-3 resulted in reactivation of the endogenous TIMP-3 gene and restoration of hypomethylated status to the three implicated Hpall sites. Thus, hypermethylation at specific sequences in the TIMP-3 promoter appears to contribute to the silencing of the gene in neoplastic cells.

Molecular cloning of mouse tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-3 and its promoter. Specific lack of expression in neoplastic JB6 cells may reflect altered gene methylation.

Mouse tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-3 (mTIMP-3), a gene specifically not expressed in neoplastic JB6 cells, have been isolated recently through the use of the mRNA differential display technique (Sun, Y., Hegamyer, G., and Colburn, N. H. (1994) Cancer Res. 54, 1139-1144). We report here the full-length mTIMP-3 cDNA sequence, the promoter sequence and partial characterization, expression and induction of TIMP-3, and the possible molecular basis for the lack of mTIMP-3 expression in neoplastic JB6 cells. There are three transcripts arising from alternative polyadenylation of mouse TIMP-3 gene, having sizes of 4.6, 2.8, and 2.3 kilobase pairs, respectively. All three TIMP-3 transcripts are expressed in preneoplastic but not neoplastic JB6 cells. Computer analysis of cloned TIMP-3 promoter revealed six AP-1 binding sites, two NF-KB sites, a c-Myc site, and two copies of a p53 binding motif separated by eight base pairs with two mismatches at the second motif, along with many other cis elements. TIMP-3 gene expression was inducible by AP-1 and NF-KB activators, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha only in preneoplastic cells with an induction peak at 2 h post-treatment, suggesting classification of mTIMP-3 as a member of the immediate early gene family. Southern blot, mutational analysis, and transient transcriptional activation experiments revealed that the lack of expression of mTIMP-3 in neoplastic JB6 cells was due neither to gross deletion nor to promoter mutation of the gene, nor was there a lack of transcription factors required for transcriptional activation. Instead, the lack of TIMP-3 expression in neoplastic JB6 cells may reflect an abnormal methylation of the gene. Both hyper- and hypomethylation of the mTIMP-3 gene are associated with complete down-regulation of gene expression in neoplastic JB6 cell lines. Treatment of neoplastic cells with the methylase inhibitor 5-azacytidine caused reexpression of the mTIMP-3 gene in a tumor cell line that showed hypermethylation but not in another that showed hypomethylation of the gene, suggesting a complex role for methylation in the silencing of gene expression.

Status of the mdm-2 and waf-1 genes in mouse epidermal jb6 variants harboring wild-type p53 - a p53-independent induction of waf-1.

Mutational inactivation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene has been found not to be involved in preneoplastic-to-neoplastic progression in mouse JB6 variants. To examine the role of an inactivated p53 pathway in this tumor promotion/progression model, we have studied the possible alteration of the MDM-2 oncogene, a gene whose product binds to and inactivates p53, and WAF-1 tumor suppressor gene, a gene transcriptionally controlled by p53 that mediates p53 tumor suppression. Alteration of either of these two genes might mimic p53 inactivation in cells expressing wild-type p53. Northern analysis revealed that MDM-2 expression was, in general, upregulated in neoplastic JB6 cells as compared with preneoplastic cells. This higher expression was not due to the gene amplification. Mutational analysis of WAF-1 revealed a) no point mutation in neoplastic cells; b) two polymorphic sites; and c) three nucleotide disagreements with the published sequence. Expression of the WAF-1 gene was also found to be, in general, higher in neoplastic cells, and induced by TPA and/or TNF-alpha in a p53-independent manner. The overall induced level of WAF-1 mRNA was higher in apoptosis sensitive cells after TPA/TNF-alpha treatment, suggesting a role of WAF-1 in mediating apoptosis. We conclude from this study that a) there is no evidence for mutational inactivation of WAF-1 that might mimic p53 inactivation in the JB6 model; b) elevated expression of MDM-2 and/or WAF-1 might be involved in neoplastic progression; and c) there is a p53-independent pathway controlling WAF-1 expression which may mediate p53-independent apoptosis.

Molecular cloning of five messenger RNAs differentially expressed in preneoplastic or neoplastic JB6 mouse epidermal cells: one is homologous to human tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-3.

To better understand the molecular mechanism of multistage carcinogenesis, we have attempted to identify putative oncogenes and/or tumor suppressor genes involved in preneoplastic-to-neoplastic progression of mouse epidermal JB6 variants. The JB6 variants consist of P- (promotion resistant), P+ (promotion sensitive), and Tx [transformed; both apoptosis-sensitive (A(s)) and apoptosis-resistant (Ar)] cells, representing progression from early to late stages of carcinogenesis. By using the newly developed differential mRNA display technique, we have isolated five clones from these JB6 variants. The isolated clones were uniquely expressed either in P-/P+ cells or in Tx (A(s)/Ar) cells or showed highly differential expression among the variants. The expression pattern shown by differential mRNA display was confirmed by Northern blot analysis. DNA sequencing followed by computer search against Genbank and EMBL DNA databases indicates that three clones are novel and two have high homology with recorded genes. One of the clones (C1.14), which detects expression in preneoplastic not neoplastic JB6 cells, was used as a probe for complementary DNA library screening. The corresponding gene, named sun for specifically unexpressed in neoplastic JB6 cells, was isolated and sequenced. The longest open reading frame of the sun clone predicts a peptide showing 96% amino acid sequence identity to the recorded sequence of human tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-3, one of a family of genes implicated in tumorigenesis and tumor invasion. This is the first report, to our knowledge, of the simultaneous display of mRNAs of four phenotypically distinct cell variants and of the isolation of five clones which may be associated with specific stages of tumor promotion and/or progression and apoptosis.

Alterations of the p53 tumor-suppressor gene in transformed mouse liver cells.

Mutational inactivation of p53, a potential tumor-suppressor gene, has been found in many tumors of humans as well as rodents. The p53 status in normal and transformed mouse liver cell lines has, however, not been investigated. We examined possible point mutations and compared mRNA and protein expression of the p53 gene in normal vs. transformed mouse liver cells. The transformed cells studied included lines spontaneously transformed by sub-culture, virally transformed by simian virus 40 (SV40), and chemically transformed by N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) or methylcholanthrene epoxide (MC). A heterozygous G-->A point mutation at codon 241, position 1, of p53 was detected in MNNG-transformed cells after screening of 5 evolutionarily conserved regions where mutation hot-spots are clustered. The mutation causes a gly-->arg substitution. No mutations were found in normal or other transformed cells. The steady-state levels of p53 mRNA were decreased in chemically transformed (both MNNG- and MC-transformed) cells. Elevated levels of p53 protein were found in spontaneously transformed and SV40-transformed cells, an observation that may reflect a longer half-life of the protein, as has been shown in other transformed lines. The low level of the p53 protein in MC-transformed cells may result from transcriptional depression of the p53 gene. We conclude from these data that abnormal p53 status, such as point mutation or altered expression, may play a role during the malignant transformation of mouse liver cells.

Sequence and localization of a novel FK506-binding protein to mouse chromosome 11.

We have isolated a unique gene from a mouse JB6 epidermal cell cDNA expression library, termed FKBPRP, that codes for a protein having domains that share between 37 and 44% amino acid sequence identity and 60% similarity with members of the family of FK506-binding proteins. The FKBPRP protein has three repeats contained within its sequence that share between 48 and 58% identity to each other. We have localized the FKBPRP gene to mouse Chromosome 11, and crosses of different murine strains provided the gene order centromere--FKBPRP-Int-4-Pkca-Es-3.

Sequence of manganese superoxide dismutase-encoding cDNAs from multiple mouse organs.

Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD)-encoding cDNAs from multiple mouse organs, including liver, kidney, brain, spleen and heart, show three sequence differences compared with the previously published mouse placenta MnSOD cDNA. The differences cause substitutions of Val(-7)-->Gly (GTG-->GGT) and Met(114)-->Val (ATG-->GTG) and a G746 deletion in the 3' untranslated region. The analysis, by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction-direct sequencing, of BALB/c mouse placenta RNA revealed the same sequence in the placenta MnSOD as that from multiple mouse organs. The data presented will be useful for wild-type sequence verification and possible point mutation detection.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma shows no detectable retinoblastoma susceptibility gene alterations.

Since multistage carcinogenesis is frequently associated with the loss of suppressor gene activity, and since in over 90% of cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) p53 alterations are not involved [Sun, Y., Hegamyer, G.H., Cheng, Y.-J., Hildesheim, A., Chen, J.-Y., Chen, I.-H., Cao, Y., Yao, K.-T. & Colburn, N.H. (1992). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89, 6516-6520] we investigated the possible involvement of the inactivation of the retinoblastoma susceptibility gene (RB) in nasopharyngeal carcinogenesis. We analysed the expression, gross structure and possible point mutation of the RB gene in an NPC cell line as well as seven NPC biopsies obtained from seven patients. The NPC cell line expresses the RB gene with a normal size and abundance, as assayed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Northern hybridization. No point mutation was detected in two independent E1A/large T-binding regions, which are the common sites for mutations in the RB gene. NPC biopsies also showed no point mutations at four exon-intron boundaries at which point mutations have been reported in other human carcinomas. The biopsies and cell line had no deletions in the promoter region of the gene and showed no gross deletions or rearrangements. Taken together, we conclude that, in contrast to multistage carcinogenesis leading to human retinoblastoma, osteogenic sarcomas and carcinomas of lung, breast, bladder and prostate, nasopharyngeal carcinogenesis appears unlikely to involve RB gene alterations.

No point mutation of Ha-ras or p53 genes expressed in preneoplastic-to-neoplastic progression as modeled in mouse JB6 cell variants.

Alterations of the p53 gene have been found in many human and animal tumors, and ras mutations have been seen somewhat less frequently. Loss of p53 tumor suppressor activity has been implicated in multistage tumor promotion/progression after initiation by Ha-ras or Ki-ras activation. Whether p53 or ras alterations occur during promotion of neoplastic transformation in JB6 cells has not been reported. Using a series of mouse JB6 variants representing different stages of progression toward the tumor-cell phenotype, we investigated whether mutational activation of Ha-ras and mutational inactivation and altered expression of the p53 gene occurred during progression. We report here that neither point mutations of the Ha-ras or p53 genes nor p53 structural alterations were involved in this process. Although there was no significant difference in steady-state levels of p53 mRNA, an elevated level of immunoprecipitable p53 protein was observed in a subset of transformed cells. We also report the detection of a second 2.2-kb p53-hybridizing transcript. This transcript was not translated into p53 protein and may be a nuclear precursor of the mature message. Both p53-hybridizing transcripts were downregulated by prolonged 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) treatment (24 h) regardless of the stage of progression. We conclude from this study that in JB6 variants (1) mutational activation of Ha-ras and inactivation of p53 are unlikely to be involved in preneoplastic progression; (2) increased amounts of p53 protein may be involved in a subset of transformed cells, possibly reflecting a longer half-life, as demonstrated in other systems; and (3) late downregulation of p53 mRNA but not protein expression may be a secondary response in the TPA-mediated signal transduction pathway.

An infrequent point mutation of the p53 gene in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Point mutations in the p53 gene have been detected in a variety of human cancers; the mutations are clustered in four "hot-spots" located in the coding region of exons 5, 7, and 8, which coincide with the four most highly conserved regions of the gene. We report the finding of a heterozygous G----C mutation at codon 280 (exon 8), position 2, of the p53 gene in a nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell line, originating from Guangdong, a province in the People's Republic of China that leads the world in NPC incidence. A survey of nasopharyngeal tissues and NPC biopsies revealed that 1 out of 12 NPC samples from Hunan, another province in the People's Republic of China with high NPC incidence, had the same heterozygous mutation at codon 280 of p53, and none of 10 biopsies from Taiwan showed a mutation within exons 5-8 of the p53 gene. No other alteration of gene structure, including gross rearrangement or loss of heterozygosity or abnormality of gene expression was detected in NPC cell lines or NPC biopsies. We conclude from this study that mutational or other alterations of the p53 gene are not common in nasopharyngeal carcinogenesis and that a codon-280 mutation of p53 may be involved in less than 10% of NPC cases. This result contrasts with the relatively high frequency of p53 mutations associated with several other human carcinomas and suggests the importance of other genes in NPC genesis.

A simple method using PCR for direct sequencing of genomic DNA from frozen tumor tissue embedded in optimal cutting temperature compound.

Described here is a three-day protocol that directly yields DNA sequence after isolating and PCR amplifying genomic DNA from a small sample of frozen nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissue embedded in optimal cutting temperature (OCT) compound. The method is consistently successful, reproducible and will facilitate the rapid analysis of DNA sequence from very small samples.

Isolation and partial characterization of a transformation-associated sequence from human nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

A transforming activity associated with Chinese nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell line CNE2 DNA has been identified by transfer into nontransformed promotion-sensitive mouse JB6(P+) C141 cells. To clone this transformation-associated sequence, we carried out three cycles of transfection, followed by cloning of anchorage-independent transformants in soft agar. A tertiary CNE/JB6 clonal transfectant cell line 625 whose DNA showed transforming activity, as indicated in both soft-agar assay and nude-mice implantation, was used to make a genomic library in the vector lambda dash. Using the human repeated sequence Blur 8 to screen the library, we obtained 10 human Alu-positive clones. A cloned Alu-positive insert of 16 kbp, CNE 323, was characterized in detail. CNE 323 transferred moderate transforming activity when introduced into JB6 P+ cells and showed no homology to Ha-, Ki-, or N-ras genes; human promotion sensitivity genes; src, myb, jun, myc, fos, raf, or int-2 oncogenes; or epidermal growth factor receptor. The isolated CNE 323 DNA sequence appeared to preserve the genomic structure of the original sequence found in CNE2 cells and in nude mouse tumors induced by CNE2 cells or by CNE/JB6 transfectant cells, indicating that the cloned NPC sequence was activated during NPC carcinogenesis and not during transfection or construction of the library, and that the cloned sequence or a larger sequence of which it was part played a role in tumor formation. Finally, we identified a 1.3-kb mRNA that hybridizes to a subclone of the 16-kb NPC sequence in CNE2 cell poly (A)+ RNA.

Deletion mapping of tumor promotion-susceptibility gene pro1 implicates an RNA polymerase III transcription unit.

The murine gene pro1 has been cloned from JB6 epidermal cell lines that are sensitive to neoplastic transformation by tumor promoters. Insensitive JB6 variants acquire susceptibility to neoplastic transformation by tumor promoters when transfected with pro1. The repetitive nature of pro1 was indicated by sequence and Southern analysis. In contrast, northern analysis of RNA from promotion-sensitive cells revealed the presence of a small pro1-hybridizing transcript. Strand-specific RNA probes implicated an RNA polymerase III (RNAPIII) coding domain in pro1 as the source of this hybridization signal. Ribonuclease protection of gel-purified pro1 RNA from JB6 variant cell lines identified a 130-nucleotide transcript. The size of this transcript is compatible with in vitro RNAPIII transcription of pro1. Deletion mapping of pro1 by exonuclease III demonstrated that the biologically active domain included the RNAPIII transcription unit. RNA probes map pro1 RNA within the activity domain. These results delineate an activity domain of 597 nucleotides and suggest that a small RNA is the product of promotion-sensitivity gene pro1.

Cloning and characterization of putative genes that specify sensitivity to neoplastic transformation by tumor promoters.

Two putative genes (termed pro 1 and pro 2) specifying sensitivity to induction of neoplastic transformation by TPA in mouse epidermal JB6 cells were cloned by sib selection from a size-selected genomic library of clonal cells sensitive to promotion of transformation. By restriction analysis, heteroduplex analysis, direct hybridization, and sequencing, the putative genes are different from and have no homology to known oncogenes. Both genes are independently and equally active as total DNA in the transfection assay. The transformation-promoting potential of these putative genes does not appear to result from gene amplification or detectable rearrangements, suggesting that small structural changes might confer the promoting activity. The mouse pro sequences are also found in monkey and human DNAs. The pro-1 sequence is homologous to middle repetitive elements in the mouse genome, namely the BAM 5 and B1 repeats. The sequence of pro-1 was determined and suggests that it contains the signals to be transcribed by RNA polymerase II and to encode a protein of 7.1 kDa.

A transforming activity not detected by DNA transfer to NIH 3T3 cells is detected by JB6 mouse epidermal cells.

Transfection of four different mouse epidermal tumor cell DNAs into NIH 3T3 cells yielded neither morphologically altered foci nor anchorage independence. However, promotion-sensitive, but not promotion-insensitive, JB6 mouse epidermal cell lines were permissive for the expression of anchorage independence after transfection of DNA from three of these tumor cell lines. This transforming activity and the promotion-sensitive activity that confers sensitivity to promotion of transformation show differences in restriction enzyme sensitivity. In view of this difference and the differences in both recipient cells and 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate dependence of expression, it appears that the transforming activity and the promotion-sensitive activity are specified by different genes. The JB6 promotion-sensitive cell lines may be useful for detecting and cloning transforming genes that escape detection in the NIH 3T3 cell focus assay.