Anchorage-independent growth of v-myc-transformed Balb/c 3T3 cells is promoted by platelet-derived growth factor or co-transformation by other oncogenes.

Murine fibroblasts transformed by the myc oncogene have a reduced growth factor dependence for both anchorage-dependent and anchorage-independent proliferation. Here we show that v-myc-transformed Balb/c 3T3 cells require, in addition to insulin, only platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) or epidermal growth factor (EGF) for anchorage-dependent growth in serum-free media. PDGF, however, cannot efficiently be substituted by EGF for anchorage-independent growth. The results suggest that constitutive v-myc expression reduces cellular growth factor requirements by non-autocrine mechanisms for proliferation in monolayer cultures. In contrast, v-myc-transformed cells require plasma components and growth factors of the 'competence' type for anchorage-independent growth. We also demonstrate that the requirement for PDGF by the myc-transformed cells can be abrogated by v-K-ras, v-src and v-fos but not the v-raf oncogene. The results demonstrate that oncogenes can cooperate in the expression of the transformed phenotype by also drastically reducing cellular growth factor requirements.