CYTOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF MURINE CELL-LINES FROM DIETHYLSTILBESTROL-INDUCED UTERINE ENDOMETRIAL ADENOCARCINOMAS

Treatment of female CD-1 mice with the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) on days 1 through 5 after birth results in a 90% incidence of endometrial adenocarcinomas by 18 months of age. Three cell lines were established from DES-induced uterine carcinomas and studied for specific chromosomal changes. Each cell line exhibited numerical decreases in chromosomes 9, 11, 13, and X as common abnormalities. Structural alterations involving chromosomes 3, 6, 11, and 19 occurred nonrandomly among the three cell lines. Every cell line showed a rearrangement in the long arm of chromosome 3 (3q+), a translocation between chromosomes 3 and 19 [t(3;19)], isochromosome of chromosome 11 [i(11)], and a marker chromosome (M2) either as common abnormalities or recurrent abnormalities. t(3;19), i(11), and M2 were observed also in the primary colonies from which the cell lines arose. The changes were not observed in a cell line derived from the uterus of one untreated control mouse, suggesting that these chromosomal alterations may have occurred during DES-induced neoplastic transformation. The chromosomal alterations found in the present study may prove useful in investigating the genetic changes involved in DES carcinogenesis.