Colony formation in agarose gels containing 2-deoxyglucose: its relationship with malignant transformation

In the light of increasing evidence that malignant transformation is a multistep process the wide correlation between growth in soft agar and various degrees of tumorigenicity suggests that this could be a property of the early stages of malignant transformation. In this paper we give evidence indicating that colony formation in agarose gels containing deoxyglucose can operate as a more restrictive criterium than growth in soft agar for malignant transformation in vitro, possibly associated with advanced stages in this process.