ISOLATION OF SPINDLE-SHAPED CELL-POPULATIONS FROM PRIMARY CULTURES OFKAPOSIS-SARCOMA OF DIFFERENT STAGE

Cell lines derived both from sporadic and epidemic KS biopsies show si milar characteristics: a mixture of mesenchymal and vascular markers a s well as production of factors which recruit endothelial cells in vit ro and induce neoangiogenesis in vivo. Most established KS spindle cel l strains are derived from patch or plaque stage KS lesions, which are easily collected during routine biopsies. Here we have characterized KS-derived spindle cell lines obtained from the four different stages typical of KS progression: angiomatous macula, patch, plaque and nodul ar KS to show if the similar features of our KS cell lines are linked to a particular stage of progression or to an in vitro selection/diffe rentiation during KS cell culture. These four KS cell lines have shown the same pattern of characterization as the previous established KS c ell lines, apart from an early selection of the spindle cell populatio n we have also observed an easy inducible phenotypic differentiation t hrough a myofibroblastic spindle cell type simply plating cells on gel atin-coated flasks. These data confirm the hypothesis of spindle cell selection in culture and the possible differentiation of these mesench ymal cells.