Suggestive evidence that genes controlling invasion and metastasis of T-cell lymphomas are located on mouse chromosome 3.

Cell lines differing in their malignant potential have been derived from the murine BW5147 T-cell lymphosarcoma. To evaluate the involvement of chromosomal aberrations in tumor progression within this model, we have analyzed the karyotypes and the in vitro invasiveness of 13 related nonmetastatic and metastatic variants. Giemsa banding revealed the presence of several marker chromosomes, one of which was of particular importance. Depending on the cell line, four variants of this marker I were found: Marker Ia corresponds to two translocated chromosomes 3, marker Ib is a deleted Ia marker, marker Ic is a Ib translocated to small unidentified chromosome fragment, and marker Id is a further deleted Ib marker. The Ia and Id markers were characteristic for the noninvasive, nonmetastatic lines, whereas the Ib and Ic markers predominated in the invasive, metastatic variants. The results suggest that metastasis-enhancing genes are located between the D and FI band of mouse chromosome 3 and that metastasis-suppressing genes are located between the FI and H band of the same chromosome.