Establishment and characterization of a prostatic small-cell carcinoma cell line (PSK-I) derived from a patient with Klinefelter syndrome

BACKGROUND. Prostatic small-cell carcinoma (SMCC) is an extremely aggressiv e, rarely occurring tumor, and there has been no previous report uf prostat ic SMCC in association with Klinefelter syndrome. This study reports on the first such case and the establishment of the first cell Line of SMCC from this tumor. METHODS. Prostatic SMCC tissue was derived from a 29-year-old man with Klin efelter syndrome. Characteristics of the culture tumor cells were evaluated with cell growth in vitro, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) secretion ability , tumorigenicity in nude mice, chemosensitivity to anticancer drugs, and ka ryotypic analysis. RESULTS. A culture cell line (PSK-1) was successfully established from pros tatic SMCC with Klinefelter syndrome. PSK-1 cells had a polygonal epithelio id morphology and demonstrated loss of contact inhibition. These cells secr eted NSE into the culture supernatant. Tumors produced in nude mice were hi stologically similar to the original SMCC. in a chemosensitivity test, PSK- 1 cells were found to be sensitive in vitro to cisplatin, etoposide, and do xorubicin, but resistant to dacarbazine and 5-fluorouracil. Cytogenetic ana lysis showed that the PSK-1 cells at passage 35 revealed 76-84 chromosomes, with a mode of 82 chromosomes. CONCLUSIONS. PSK-1 cells could represent some properties of the original tu mor cells, and could be used in studies on the etiology and treatment of th is disease. Prostate 42:287-294, 2000. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.