ANALYSIS OF DNA-PLOIDY AND EXPRESSION OF TUMOR-ASSOCIATED ANTIGENS ONHUMAN ORAL CARCINOMAS XENOGRAFTED IN NUDE-MICE

Human squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) of the oral cavity were successfu lly established as xenografts in nude mice. Tumours with higher malign ancy scores and involvement of lymph nodes in patients were more readi ly accepted as xenografts in nude mice. The xenografted tumours were c haracterised with respect to morphology, histology, DNA index and expr ession of tumour-associated antigens (TAA). Flow cytometric analysis o f cellular DNA content revealed that many of the xenografts retained t he parent tumour DNA pattern while some of the xenografts showed progr ession to aneuploidy. All the xenografted tumours expressed TAA recogn ised by monoclonal antibody (MAb) 3F8E3. On Western blotting, MAb 3F8E 3 recognised proteins of molecular weight 62-64kDa on parent and xenog rafted tumours. In general, the xenografts reflect many of the charact eristics of the rumours from which they were derived and may provide a useful model for investigating newer approaches of treatment and diag nosis. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.