Cell cycle and gene expression in the insulin producing pancreatic cell line beta TC1.

The pancreatic cell line beta TC1, established from insulinomas of transgenic mice carrying a hybrid insulin-promoted large T antigen gene, has retained several characteristics of normal cells, including the insulin content and inducibility of insulin secreting by glucose. We show here that the growth of beta TC1 cells is arrested in low serum-concentration medium. Cells exposed for three days to 0.25% fetal calf serum ceased to incorporate [3H]thymidine but were still able to resume the cell division cycle upon addition of serum. In this cell line, we have determined by cytofluorometry the cell cycle kinetic parameters to be of 21 h, 10 h 30 min and 12 h for the G1, S and G2/M phases, respectively. Quiescent beta TC1 cells constitutively expressed the protooncogene c-jun that codes for the transcriptional factor AP1, as well as cdc2, another cell cycle-related gene. A large transient increase in the expression of the c-fos gene was obtained rapidly, 30 min after addition of serum and a similar increase in c-jun expression after one hour. Expression of the cdc2 gene was also enhanced to a lesser extent. The same effects were also observed in the presence of cycloheximide, thus proving that the expression of these three genes is directly stimulated by serum growth factors. Consequently, quiescent beta TC1 cells provide a good model for studying the short- and long-term effects of growth factors on Beta-cell proliferation.