In vivo Hybridisation of Cultured Melanoma Cells and Isogenic Normal Mouse Cells

Somatic cell hybrids were derived by fusing tumourigenic and melanogenic melanoma (PAZG) cells with normal diploid male mouse cells in vivo. Their chromosomal composition was equivalent to the sum of both parental genomes and included a Y chromosome lacking in the melanoma parent. Our study showed that in PAZG x C57BL hybrids (MP), tumourigenicity was suppressed but pigmentation was expressed.