BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF RENAL ONCOCYTOMA CELLS IN CULTURE

This paper sought to determine biological properties of oncocytoma cel ls, both in vivo and in vitro, which may serve as useful diagnostic in dicators. Cell lines were grown in short-term culture from two renal o ncocytomas following enzymatic dissocation, characterised by immunohis tochemistry and electron microscopy, and further studied for abnormal p53 or retinoblastoma genes. Cells in culture were shown to maintain t he morphological attributes of the primary lesion, including the overp roduction of mitochondria. Despite the absence of vimentin staining in the primary tumour, cells in culture were shown to express this inter mediate filament. Immunohistochemistry for P53 protein demonstrated an overexpression in one of the tumours, suggesting that mutation had oc curred. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the retinoblastom a and the p53 genes were not demonstrated. Mutation of the p53 gene do es occur in oncocytomas. The maintenance of the phenotype of oncocytom a cells in culture suggests that in vitro studies may be useful in the identification of unique properties of the tumour.