Carcinoma of the uterine cervix is one of the most common neoplasms in women, and about 90% of all cervical carcinomas are epidemiologically associated with infection by high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) such as types 16, 18, 31 and 33 (Zur Hausen, 1991).Because most available cervical-cancer cell lines were initiated more than 20 years ago (Spence et al., 1988), they have been extensively passaged in culture for hundreds of times in uncontrolled growth conditions, and this might have resulted in changes in the original characteristics of the primary tumor (Spence et al., 1988;Braun et al., 1993). Moreover, because establishment is difficult, the numbers of recently established cell lines with a low passage number are limited (Spence et al., 1988;Braun et al., 1993). The establishment from histopathologically varied primary tumors of cervical-cancer cell lines with a low passage number and an understanding of their characteristics are therefore required.In cervical cancers, a high-risk viral DNA genome is often found to be integrated into the host chromosome by common disruption of the viral E1/E2 region (Schwarz et al., 1985;Chen et al., 1994). In in vitro experiments, E2 repress transcription from the promoters of the E6 and E7 genes. In contrast, E6/E7 genes are actively transcribed in E2-deleted cervical cancers and cell lines (Schwarz et al., 1985).E6 and E7 proteins have been shown to form complexes with the normal cellular protein, p53, or the retinoblastoma-susceptibility gene product, pRb, both of which are well-known tumor suppressors, and those complexes lead to inactivation of the suppression function . Oncogenic HPV-type E6 protein specifically binds to wild-type p53 protein and subsequently enhances the degradation of p53 protein in an ATP/ubiquitin-dependent manner (Scheffner et al., 1990). In addition, pRb is inactivated by binding with E7 protein or through mutation. E7 protein of high-risk HPVs complex with pRb to inactivate the tumor-suppressor function of pRb (reviewed by McIntyre et al., 1993). Functional relevance of alterations at the Rb-binding domain in the E7 gene remains unclear.In this context, we established 12 new uterine cervical-cancer cell lines (SNU-17, SNU-487, SNU-523, SNU-682, SNU-703, SNU-778, SNU-902, SNU-1000, SNU-1005, SNU-1160, SNU-1245 and SNU-1299) with early passages and described cell phenotypes, including histopathology of the primary tumor and in vitro growth characteristics. We also performed molecular characterization, including DNA-fingerprinting analysis and HPV detection, typing and determination of physical form (integrated or episomal) of viral DNA. RNA expression of HPV E6/E7 viral transcripts, sequence variation in the E7 gene of HPV and genetic alteration of p53 were also examined.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Cell-line establishment and maintenanceCell lines were established from pathologically proven uterine cervical carcinomas (Table I). Solid tumors were finely minced with scissors and dissociated into small aggregates by pipetting. Appropriate amounts...