Spontaneous hybridization of macrophages and Meth A sarcoma cells

We present evidence of hybridization between Meth A sarcoma cells and syngeneic as well as semigeneic peritoneal macrophages. The resultant hybrids are characterized by morphology, membrane markers, ploidy, chromosomal content and functional features. Briefly, after a few days of coculture, cells appeared with morphology intermediate between the 2 original cell types. Typical macrophage surface molecules appeared in the hybrids. Meth A cells were labeled with red fluorescence and macrophages with green fluorescence. After 4 days in vitro, hybrids with yellow fluorescence appeared. Macrophages from BALB.K mice (H-2 K-k) were cocultivated with Meth A cells from BALB/c mice (H-2 K-d). The semigeneic hybrids displayed both specificities, as demonstrated by flow cytometry. The hybrids appeared moderately phagocytic, less so than the macrophages and markedly more so than the essentially nonphagocytic Meth A cells. The hybrids had a mean number of 76 chromosomes, as opposed to 53 in the Meth A cells and 40 in the macrophages. The macrophage DNA index was set at 1; Meth A cells were found to have an index of 1.6 in G I phase, and the hybrids had a 2.6 index. The hybrids grew more slowly in vitro than Meth A cells, but grew faster in vivo. (C) 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.