Phenotypic drift and clonal variation in differentiation antigen expression on AKR T-cell lymphoma lines grown in...

AKR T-cell lymphomas were adapted to tissue culture and analyzed for reactivity with monoclonal antibodies against Thy-1, Ly-1, Ly-2, Ly-5, and H-2K differentiation antigens to determine whether the original phenotype was maintained after adaptation to in vitro culture. Ly-1 and Ly-2 antigens were lost on the majority of lymphomas early in culture and the expression of other lymphocyte differentiation antigens fluctuated when the cell lines were reanalyzed at various time intervals. In addition, the T-lymphoma lines were cloned and the clonal progeny compared with each other and the parent cell lines for differentiation antigen expression. The results demonstrated marked intratumor heterogeneity with respect to antigenic profile. In vivo passage of the cell lines revealed that expression of various antigens was modified after transplantation suggesting that these lymphomas may be susceptible to microenvironmental influences effecting phenotypic alterations. Potential mechanisms contributing to the observed variations in antigenic phenotype on the cultured AKR T-lymphoma lines are discussed.