Retinoids have different effects on morphological transformation and anchorage independent growth of Syrian hamster embryo cells.

The effect of different retinoids on morphological transformation and anchorage independent growth of Syrian hamster embryo cells has been studied. Retinoic acid and its derivatives were found to induce morphological transformation of hamster embryo cells, and to synergistically increase the transformation frequency when exposed in combination with benzo[a]pyrene. The increase was maintained when the cells were sequentially exposed to benzo[a]pyrene and retinoids in a similar way as observed for tumor promoting phorbol esters. At the same time retinoids were found to strongly decrease anchorage independent growth of a hamster embryo cell line. The present results support previous findings indicating that retinoids may have an enhancing effect on the early stages in carcinogenesis, and an inhibitory effect on the later stages.