title: Establishment and characterization of continuous cell line MTC-SK derived from a human medullary thyroid carcinoma.
abstract: Tumor cells of a human medullary thyroid carcinoma were isolated and propagated in tissue culture. Several cell lines with different morphology developed from the primary culture, among others a fibroblast-like growing cell line (MTC-F) and a cell line growing as a suspension of single cells and spherical cell clusters (MTC-SK). The MTC-SK cell line was serially propagated for 90 passages, over 3 years. When examined at different times throughout the in vitro period, MTC-SK exhibited properties characteristic of medullary thyroid carcinomas: the cells maintained their epithelioid morphology; endocrine granules were demonstrated in the cytoplasm by electron microscopy; in situ hybridization confirmed the production of calcitonin- and bombesin-mRNA (gastrin releasing peptide); the cells revealed positive immunoreactivity with antibodies to calcitonin, calcitonin gene-related peptide, and bombesin. The in vitro properties of the MTC-SK cells corresponded to the results obtained from the tissue of origin. Cytogenetic studies of the MTC-F cell line revealed a supernumerary metacentric chromosome (20?). In the MTC-SK cell line the predominant findings were terminal chromosomal rearrangements most frequently concerning chromosome 11p, i.e., the locus of the calcitonin and calcitonin gene-related peptide genes and the H-ras oncogene, and a characteristic instability of the centromeric region of chromosome 16 and somatic pairing of the homologous chromosomes 16.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Funktionelle Pathologie, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pfragner
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Höfler
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Behmel
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ingolic
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Walser
mesh_terms: D002116:Calcitonin / Q000032:analysis; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide / Q000032:analysis; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D005260:Female; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D008875:Middle Aged; D013004:Somatostatin / Q000032:analysis; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D013004:Somatostatin; D002116:Calcitonin; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide