Recent studies on the identification of proliferative abnormalities and of oncogenic potential of cutaneous cells in individuals at increased risk of colon cancer.

This recent study describes the growth characteristics of ACR skin fibroblasts in culture and their differential susceptibility to transformation by Kirsten murine sarcoma virus (Ki-MSV). The SF were derived from normal appearing subepidermoid biopsies of ACR individuals, their progeny and ocntrols. Normal SF were contact-inhibited and grew only in 15% FCS. SF of ACR subjects, and some asymptomatic ACR progeny were not contact inhibited, grew in both 1% and 15% FCS and were considerably more susceptible to transformation by Ki-MSV than were control SF. The virally transformed SF showed a loss of anchorage dependency in methylcellulose and formed tumors in athymic mice. The results suggest the presence of early and previously undetected metabolic lesions in SF from clinically asymptomatic subjects. These phenotype markers are currently evaluated for their utility in the clinical diagnosis of individuals with latent ACR and those at increased risk for colon cancer. SF from ACR individuals have been recently shown to contain significant alterations in the intracellular distribution of actin (R. Pollack and L. Kopelovich, in preparation), and elevated levels of plasminogen activator (L. Kopelovich).