ESTABLISHMENT OF AN OSTEOGENIC CELL-LINE DERIVED FROM ADULT-MOUSE BONE-MARROW STROMA BY USE OF A RECOMBINANT RETROVIRUS

In order to characterize fibroblastic colony-forming units (CFU-F) from murine bone marrow in relation to osteogenesis, adherent cells of 7-day-old BALB/c mouse bone marrow cultures were infected with a recombinant retrovirus (N2/DELTA-fosB) containing the bacterial neomycin resistance gene. One of the G418-resistant clones, MN7, was selected for further analysis on the basis of its high expression of the bone-specific alkaline phosphatase. The cells have now been in culture for more than 1 year and maintain a stable phenotype. The osteogenic nature of the immortalized clone MN7 was demonstrated as follows: (1) Mineralization was detected by Sr-85 uptake and with the Von Kossa staining method only after in vitro cultivation on a collagen type I matrix. (2) Osteoblastic phenotype markers, including the synthesis of type I collagen, osteonectin, and the bone-specific isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase were expressed in vitro. (3) MN7 cells responded to bone effectors such as parathyroid hormone and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. (4) Intraperitoneal injection of MN7 cells into 1-day-old BALB/c mice produced typical osteosarcomas in all animals. We conclude that MN7, derived entirely in vitro from a stromal CFU-F colony, represents a stable murine osteosarcoma cell line expressing the osteoblastic phenotype and provides the first direct evidence needed to establish adult mouse marrow-derived, nonhematopoietic stromal cells as osteoprogenitors.