New tissue culture cell lines derived from human squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix and vagina. Squamous cells in tissue culture

Two new cell lines of human squamous cell carcinoma have been established in culture. One line, designated EC-50, was derived from cells of the ascitic fluid in a woman with recurrent carcinoma of the uterine cervix. The other line (EC-82) was derived from tissue obtained by biopsy of a primary vaginal carcinoma. Cells from ascitic fluid and vaginal carcinoma were grown in culture as monolayers, with the use of enriched Waymouth's medium (MB 752/1) containing serum. When cells from the thirteenth passage of the EC-50 line and seventeenth passage of the EC-82 line were injected subdermally into the cheek pouches of cortisone-treated hamsters, tumors developed. The histologic pattern of tumor grown from EC-50 cells and that of the biopsy of the original carcinoma of the uterine cervix were indistinguishable. In addition, the histologic pattern of tumor grown from EC-82 cells was indistinguishable from that of the biopsy of the original vaginal carcinoma. When cells from passage 54 or 72 of the EC-50 line or from passage 47 or 70 of the EC-82 line were injected subcutaneously into nude (athymic) mice, tumors developed. The histologic pattern of each tumor was indistinguishable from that of the biopsies of the original tumors. The EC-50 cells had 65 to 70 chromosomes; the EC-82 cells had 83 to 87 chromosomes. The doubling times of the EC-82 cells in culture were 16 and 20 hours, respectively. The EC-82 cells produced chorionic gonadotropin. When an ultrastructural analysis of EC-50 cells at passage 82 and of EC-82 cells at passage 78 was performed, the squamous epithelial origin of these cell lines was confirmed. At present, the EC-50 cells have undergone 123 passages; the EC-82 cells have undergone 114 passages. These cells have maintained their tumorigenic capacity despite prolonged maintenance in culture and may be of utility in investigations of sensitivity to radiation and chemotherapeutic agents, immunotherapy and immunodiagnosis, ectopic hormone production, and tumor-specific antigens.