ESTABLISHMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A SV40T-TRANSFORMED HUMAN BRONCHIAL EPITHELIAL-CELL LINE

The majority of human lung cancers originate from the carcinogenesis o f bronchial epithelial cells. To study the malignant progression of hu man bronchial epithelial cells, we established a SV40T-transformed hum an bronchial epithelial cell line, and observed some biological and ge netic changes of the cell line at different passages. In a 2-year cult ure, this cell line was approaching malignancy without obvious senesce nce. Cells in a later passage proliferated faster and required less gr owth factors than those of an early passage. After continued passaging , these cells were resistant to the terminal squamous differentiation effects of serum, and many of the cells grew anchorage independently. However, no tumor formed after cells were injected into nude mice. Som e genetic alterations were found accompanying those morphological chan ges, such as 3p- and activation of c-myc, c-erbB-2 and bcl2, suggestin g that those genetic alterations may contribute to the carcinogenesis of human bronchial epithelial cells at an early stage. This cell line should be particularly useful for studying the progression of human lu ng cancers. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.