Inhibition of intercellular communication and enhancement of morphological transformation of Syrian hamster embryo cells by TPA. Use of TPA-sensitive and TPA-resistant cell lines.

The possible role of blocked intercellular communication in the process of cell transformation has been studied with Syrian hamster embryo cell lines which are sensitive or resistant to TPA-induced enhancement of morphological transformation. Both the TPA-sensitive (BPNi) and the TPA-resistant (83-106 and 74-100) cell lines showed gap-junctional communication when measured by a dye-transfer method. However, TPA inhibited the communication only in TPA-sensitive cells, and not in TPA-resistant cells. These results are consistent with the idea that blocked intercellular communication is involved in a late stage of cell transformation and/or expression of the transformed phenotype.