The differentiation of colorectal cancer cells is associated with the arrest of tumor growth and tumor regression. However, the mechanism of such tumor cell differentiation has not yet been elucidated. Several adenocarcinoma cell lines, including HT29 which differentiates only upon stimulation with a differentiation agent, have been used for the study of colorectal cells. Since we had previously obtained variable results during analyses of these cells, we selected several clones of this cell line. In this study, four clones of the parental HT29 cells, H8, G9, G10 and A3, were characterized. All of them differentiated upon treatment with sodium butyrate as the differentiation agent but they appeared different in their response regarding some of the markers of differentiation. As revealed by ultrastructural analysis, H8 and G10 clones formed numerous intercellular cysts with microvilli whereas these structures were found only ocassionally in G9 and A3 clones. An elevated level of the indicator of cell differentiation, CEACAM 1, was found in H8 and G10 clones and the activity of alkaline phosphatase, another important marker of colorectal cell differentiation, was up-regulated and highly increased upon butyrate treatment in the H8 clone. Phosphorylation of p38 MAPK was increased in H8 and A3 butyrate-treated clones. According to the levels of cleaved PARP and activated caspase-3, the apoptotic response to butyrate appeared similar in all four clones, while electronoptic analysis revealed that clones G9 and A3 were more perceptive to butyrate-induced apoptosis. In conclusion, our data showed considerable heterogeneity in morphology and some enzymatic activity of the cloned cells. This fact may contribute to the evidence that many HT29 cells possess multipotent information similar to that of stem cells of the normal intestinal crypt.

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