A Human Tissue Culture Cell Line from a Transitional Cell Tumour of the Urinary Bladder: Growth, Chromosome Pattern and Ultrastructure

Abstract

TISSUE culture techniques are invaluable for the study of biological processes at the cellular level and particularly so in the experimental study of human tumours which cannot easily be maintained after removal from the patient. Although a number of cell lines have been established from human tumours (Moore and Koike, 1964) following the establishment of the HeLa cell line from a carcinoma of cervix by Gey et al. (1952), there are no readily available lines from human tumours of the urinary tract. Short term cultures of bladder tumours have been reported by Burrows et al. (1917), Bregman andBregman (1961) andWalker et al. (1965) among others. Jones (1967) reported one cell line from a carcinoma of bladder which had been maintained for 20 months. Although the original cultures contained " epithelial " and " fibroblastic " cells, the " epithelial " elements died out, and the established line was considered to be of normal connective tissue origin.In order to study the cytological behaviour of urothelial neoplasms in vitro and in vivo, and their response to cytotoxic agents, a number of tumours were selected for tissue culture in an attempt to establish permanent cell lines with the characteristics of the parent neoplastic transitional epithelium. MATERIAL AND METHODSCultures were prepared from cell suspensions or explants. Cell suspensions were prepared by mincing with crossed scalpels. The mince was then passed through a 20 gauge needle. In the more solid tumours, suspensions were prepared by trypsinization at 36 5°C., in fluted 250 ml. Erlenmeyer flasks. The trypsin (Tryptar, Almour) was used at a concentration of 500 units!

Cellular heterogeneity in a tissue culture cell line derived from a human bladder carcinoma

“…and electron microscopy (E.M.). Cells were prepared for E.M. according to the method described by Rigby and Franks (1970). Cell volume was estimated using a Coulter counter (Model ZBl) fitted with a cell volume distribution analyser (Model P64).…”

Ultrastructure, karyology and immunology of a cell line originated from a human transitional-cell carcinoma

“…The patient was given preoperative radiotherapy in a dose of 4200 rad over 43 davs. After a 3-w%Neek interval, (Bubenik et al, 1973) and RT4 (Rigby and Franks, 1970), derived from transitional cell carcinomas. HCV-29 established by Dr J. Fogh, Sloan Kettering Institute, from urothelium; and MEL-1 derived from a metastasis of cutaneous melanoma (Unsgaard and O'Toole, 1975).…”

“…In general, cell lines from bladder carcinomas established in vitro retain the morphological attributes of the original tumour (Rigby and Franks, 1970;Bubenik et al, 1973;O'Toole et al, 1976;Nayak et al, 1977). TCC cell lines have been used extensively in the search for host immunity to tumour.…”

“…One and a half years after surgery, no significant differences in cytotoxic activity between the patient and a control donor was observed on either the autologous, or 4 different allogenic cell lines. Three years after surgery, the patient's lymphocytes were tested for cytotoxicity in a 51Cr-release assay (Table IV) (Atkin, 1973 (Bubenik et al, 1973) and RT4 (Rigby and Franks, 1970 …”

Impaired ΔNp63 expression associates with reduced β-catenin and aggressive phenotypes of urothelial neoplasms

“…Also examined were four established human bladder cancer cell lines: RT-4, JTC30, EJ, and T24. RT-4 was derived from papilloma of the urinary bladder (Rigby and Franks, 1970). JTC30 is a cell line established in our laboratory from a patient with welldifferentiated papillary bladder tumour (Kakuya et al, 1983).…”