Interferon-γ Induces Altered Oncogene Expression and Terminal Differentiation in A431 Cells 1

Abstract

In tumor cell lines in which oncogene expression is abnormal, modulation of the expression of the oncogene (myc, src, or ras) by interferons (IFNs) has been observed concurrently with cell growth inhibition or phenotypic reversion. Oncogene expression has also been reported to vary during the differentiation of several neoplastic cell lines. Treatment of monolayer cultures of A431, a human epidermoid carcinoma cell line, with IFN-γ resulted in rapid morphological alterations and cell death not seen with either IFN-α or IFN-β These changes were accompanied by elevated expression of mRNA's for p21 (the c-ras gene product) and the epidermal growth factor receptor as well as increases in the biosynthetic rate of their respective proteins. These effects likewise appeared to be specific for IFN-γ. Growth inhibition by IFN-γ was also observed when A431 cells were grown in a three dimensional in vitro culture system. Immunohistochemical staining of these “tumoroids” with a differentiation specific, anti-keratin antibody indicated that IFN-γ enhanced expression of this keratin. This observation suggests that the killing by IFN-γ of A431 cells may result from an acceleraton of terminal differentiation.