Differentiation induced by RB expression and apoptosis induced by p53 expression in an osteosarcoma cell line. Multiple genetic alterations, including concurrent inactivation of RB and p53, occur frequently in several human cancers. To investigate the biological significance of RB and p53 gene inactivations, a wild-type RB or p53 cDNA expression vector regulated by tetracycline was introduced by stable transfection into an osteosarcoma cell line Saos-2, in which both the RB and p53 genes were inactivated. Induction of introduced RB expression resulted in suppression of cell growth, increased percentage of cells at the G0/G1 phase, and enlargement of the cells. Furthermore, activity of alkaline phosphatase was increased and expression of fibronectin was decreased, suggesting the induction of cell differentiation by RB expression. Induction of p53 expression also resulted in significant suppression of cell growth with slight accumulation of cells at the G0/G1 and G2/M phases. The cells were detached from culture dishes and the dead cell fraction increased. Furthermore, condensation of chromatin and DNA fragmentation were observed, suggesting the induction of apoptosis by p53. These results suggest that RB and p53 play different roles in carcinogenesis of osteoblast; RB inactivation releases cells from G0/G1 arrest and suppresses cell differentiation while p53 inactivation assists the cells to proliferate by repressing both apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 and G2/M.