Concanavalin A agglutination assays in the multistage transformation of a pig cell line.

Cells of a pig Fallopian tube line were agglutinated by concanavalin A (Con A). Similar ConA agglutination was shown in diploid and nontumoral transformed cells with one (T1) translocation until the 112th subculture. Then a progressive increase of agglutination was shown until the 149th subculture and the rate of agglutination remained constant thereafter. The progression of ConA agglutination paralleled the progression of anchorage independence. The highest ConA agglutination occurred when anchorage independence was well established and persisted until the 193rd T1 subculture when benign tumorigenicity was demonstrated. After the appearance of the second translocation (T2), the self-agglutination of the cells was directly related to malignancy and to high tumor incidence in mice. Anchorage independence and the highest ConA agglutination were directly related to benign transformation and indirectly related to malignant transformation of the pig Fallopian tube cell line.