Heterotopic chondrogenesis and osteogenesis induced by transformed cells: use of nude mice as a model system.

A subline of HeLa cells was shown to induce cartilage and bone formation in congenitally athymic (nude) mice when injected intramuscularly. The chondrogenesis and osteogenesis observed was similar to that found when other inducing epithelia are injected intramuscularly into cortisone-treated mice. A tumorigenic SV40 T antigen-positive human-mouse somatic cell hybrid with human chromosomes C7 and C6 did not induce cartilage or bone formation under similar conditions. The nude mouse may thus provide a system in which to investigate experimental host-cell differentiation without the complications of immunosuppression.