Characterization of a c-met proto-oncogene activated in human xeroderma pigmentosum cells after treatment with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG).

Human xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) fibroblasts were transformed with N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). The transformed cells, called ASKMN, were immortalized, grew in agar and were tumorigenic in nude mice. A trp-met oncogene was identified in ASKMN cells, after transfection of high molecular weight DNA on 3T3 mouse cells. The ASKMN cells and the 3T3 transformants expressed the 5-kb mRNA transcribed by the tpr-met oncogene and its p65tpr-met phosphorylated protein. Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique followed by hybridization with synthetic probes or direct sequencing, we showed that the sequence encompassing the 'rearranged breakpoint' was the same as that previously described in the tpr-met oncogene present in the MNNG-HOS cells. However, G to A transitions found in the tpr or met sequences of the ASKMN oncogene, probably the result of the specific mutagenic activity of MNNG, were absent in the MNNG-HOS gene. Apparently normal chromosomes 1 and 7 were identified in the ASKMN cell metaphases using several cytogenetic techniques.