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In Vivo Growth Of C6 Glioma Cells Transfected With Connexin43 Cdna, C. Naus, K. Elisevich, D. Zhu, Daniel Belliveau, R. Del Maestro

Daniel J. Belliveau

In order to examine the possible role of intercellular communication via gap junctions in the control of tumor growth, we have transfected C6 glioma cells with connexin43 cDNA. We obtained several clones with variable expression of connexin43. The growth rate of these clones in culture was inversely related to the degree of expression of the transfected cDNA. To examine the growth of these transfected cells in vivo, cells were grown in spinner culture flasks to form spheroids 250–300 µm in diameter. Spheroids of nontransfected C6 cells produced large gliomas. Immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization analyses revealed relatively high levels of …