IMMORTALIZED AND TUMORIGENIC ADULT HUMAN PROSTATIC EPITHELIAL-CELL LINES - CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONS .2. TUMORIGENIC CELL-LINES

This is Part 2 of a three-part review and deals with tumorigenic cell lines. Several immortalized and malignant adult human prostatic epithe lial cell lines have been recently developed. The three most widely us ed carcinoma cell lines-DU-145, PC-3, and LNCaP-developed between 1977 and 1980, have greatly contributed to our current understanding of pr ostate cancer. Before a cell line can be accepted as having prostatic epithelial origin, some basic characteristics must be established. Exp ression of specific cytokeratins but absence of desmin and factor VIII should be first determined to establish epithelial origin. Responsive ness to androgens and expression of androgen receptor and prostate-spe cific antigen should be examined under stringent culture conditions to establish prostatic epithelial origin. Response to growth factors and expression of their receptors facilitates further characterization of cell behavior. Cell lines immortalized by human papillomaviruses (HPV s) are of special interest because HPVs are involved in a variety of a nogenital cancers and may also play a role in prostate carcinogenesis. Malignant transformation of HPV-18 immortalized cells with the ras on cogene provides cell systems for investigating the multistep process o f carcinogenesis. Each cell line has some unique characteristics, whet her it arose directly from a carcinoma or resulted from immortalizatio n with Simian virus 40 (SV40) or HPV, or was transformed in vitro by o ncogenes. Comparisons of these characteristics should facilitate eluci dation of the mechanisms involved in the initiation, promotion, and pr ogression of prostate cancer. These cell lines will further serve as u seful models for investigating tumor progression, invasion, metastasis , new therapeutic strategies, drug resistance, and its reversal and ch emoprevention. The nontumorigenic cell lines were discussed in Part 1 [1]. This review summarizes the characteristics of several currently a vailable tumorigenic, adult human prostatic epithelial cell lines. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.