Expression of nervous system antigen-3 by lines of mouse fibroblasts and kidney cells and continued expression in hybrid cells.

In a survey of the expression on cultured mouse cells of the cell surface antigen known as nervous system antigen-3 (NS-3), it was found that RAG, a renal adenocarcinoma line, expressed that antigen. It was also observed that 3T3, a fibroblast line of unknown tissue origin, expressed NS-3. Cells of these two lines were hybridized with cells of two mouse L cell lines that did not express NS-3. Four hybrid clones were tested for both the 3T3 X L cell cross and the RAG X L cell cross, and all the hybrids were found to be NS-3 positive. All the hybrids had at least 40% as much activity as the NS-3 positive parent. Of the four parental mouse cell lines used, only 3T3 expressed Thy-1.2 antigen on the cell surface. In contrast to the continued expression of NS-3 on hybrid cells, Thy-1.2 antigen was not detectable on two clones of 3T3 X L cell hybrids that were tested.