The suppression of malignancy by terminal differentiation: evidence from hybrids between tumour cells and keratinocytes.

When malignant human cells are crossed with diploid human keratinocytes, malignancy, as defined by progressive growth in vivo, is suppressed so long as the hybrid cells continue to produce involucrin, a protein that characterizes terminal differentiation in the keratinocyte. When, on continued cultivation in vitro, the cells lose the ability to produce involucrin, they reacquire the ability to grow progressively in the animal.