ESTABLISHMENT OF A HUMAN SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMA CELL-LINE OF THE UPPER AERODIGESTIVE TRACT

A human squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cell line has been established f rom the surgical specimen of an untreated, upper aero-digestive tract tumour, diagnosed as a squamous carcinoma, grade III, of the pyriform fossa. The tumour tissue was grown as a xenograft in an athymic nude m ouse and was designated as NT-8. Histological examination of the surgi cal specimen and the nude mouse tumour showed that the two were identi cal. NT-8 was subsequently passed by subcutaneous injections into nude mice. After the 6th passage in nude mouse, the tumour was cultured in vitro where it grew as an epithelial cell line, with a typical cobble stone appearance, This cell line was designated as NT-8e. Both the pri mary tumour as well as xenograft and the cells in culture have retaine d several common morphological and biochemical characteristics. Immuno logical markers for epithelial cells including epithelial membrane ant igen and cytokeratins were seen in all three, confirming the epithelia l lineage. Characterization of the NT-8e cell line including growth pa rameters, anchorage-independent growth and tumorigenicity in nude mice , chromosome counts and DNA content by flow cytometry have been carrie d out. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.