SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMAS OF THE HEAD AND NECK CULTURED IN FLOATING COLLAGEN GELS .1. THE MAINTENANCE OF STROMAL AND EPITHELIAL ELEMENTS IN-VITRO WITHOUT FIBROBLAST OVERGROWTH

The study of the molecular biology of head and neck squamous cell carc inomas has been heavily reliant on the analysis of cell lines. This is largely because the maintenance of primary cell cultures is difficult . However, being monoclonal, cell lines are not representative of the primary tumor because of the loss of tumor cell heterogeneity. We repo rt a technique for primary culture of squamous cell carcinomas with ma intenance of epithelial and stromal cell components without overgrowth of the fibroblast cells. Phenotypic markers for fibroblasts and squam ous cells were present up to 45 days after initiation of culture, and expression of epidermal growth factor receptor and involucrin in cultu res paralleled that in the primary tumor. In vivo, tumor stromal eleme nts are thought to play an important role in the support of epithelial cell growth. In the collagen gel system the preservation of the strom al cell component likely improves culture viability and growth. More i mportantly, this culture system allows the in vitro tumor to more accu rately reflect the tumor from which it was derived, and it permits the study of primary squamous cell carcinomas under in vitro conditions.