title: Establishment of a new cell line, VA-N-BR, from a primitive neuroblastoma tumor of the abdomen.
abstract: An established cell line was derived from a neuroblastoma originating in the abdomen of a six year old male. This patient had increased urinary homovanillic acid on two occasions, and the tumor had a unique pattern of local peritoneal and hepatic dissemination but not distant spread. The cells were initially highly refractile round cells forming firmly adherent cell clumps which later formed irregularly shaped bodies with mono- or bipolar short processes attached to the plastic surface of the culture flask. Chromosomal tetraploidy and marker chromosomes distinguished these cells from Ewings sarcoma, neuroepithelioma and the common disseminating neuroblastoma. Immunohistochemical staining positive for neurofilament, chromogranin, desmin and vimentin suggested it to be relatively undifferentiated. When heterotransplanted to nude mice, these cells expressed only desmin and vimentin reactivity. This neuroblastoma cell line was established and designated as VA-N-BR. It appears to be different from the more common partially differentiated neuroblastoma of childhood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York 10595.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Helson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Helson
mesh_terms: D000008:Abdominal Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured