Morphologic transformation and chromosomal changes induced by chemical carcinogens in skin fibroblasts from patients with familial adenomatosis coli.

Skin fibroblasts from patients with familial adenomatosis coli (AC) and normal individuals were treated once with the carcinogen 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide or N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine and then passaged sequentially. Morphologically altered cells appeared in the cultures of carcinogen-treated AC fibroblasts at passages 6-8 (days 100-140) after treatment with the carcinogens, but carcinogen-treated normal cells and untreated AC and normal cells did not become altered even after cultivation for 25 passages. The cultures containing morphologically altered cells showed characteristics of transformed cells, such as a high frequency of colony formation in soft agarose, increased growth ability, and chromosomal abnormalities. The results suggest tha AC patients have increased susceptibility to morphologic transformation and chromosomal changes induced by chemical carcinogens.