Expression of lethal mutations is suppressed in neoplastically transformed cells and after treatment of normal cells with carcinogens.

Recent evidence from our laboratory suggests that the fraction of cells with lethal mutations is lost from the population by apoptosis. The relationship of this process to genetic instability and carcinogenesis is unclear. To examine this, tumorigenic cell populations derived from spontaneously occurring, neoplastically transformed C3H 1OT1/2 foci and from radiation-induced foci were compared with wild-type C3H 10T1/2 cell populations to …