CWR22 - ANDROGEN-DEPENDENT XENOGRAFT MODEL DERIVED FROM A PRIMARY HUMAN PROSTATIC-CARCINOMA

The long-term propagation of primary human prostate cancer (PCA) in vi vo or in vitro has been rare. Most such PCAs are phenotypically differ ent from most PCAs in humans; i.e., they make little prostate specific antigen and respond little, if at all, to androgen deprivation. A ser ially transplantable, primary human PCA, designated CWR22 exhibits a c lonal cytogenetic aberration, causes high elevations of prostate speci fic antigen in the peripheral blood of nude mice, and is unusually res ponsive to androgen deprivation as compared with other xenografts. Stu dies of mRNA from CWR22 have demonstrated the expression of prostate s pecific antigen and the epidermal growth factor receptor family includ ing erbB1/epidermal growth factor receptor, erbB2/neu, and erbB3, but not erbB4. A ligand for these receptors, the neu differentiation facto r, is also expressed.