A human combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma cell line (KMCH-2) that shows the features of hepatocellular carcinoma or cholangiocarcinoma under different growth conditions.
OBJECTIVE
Combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma is a rare tumor of the liver, and its histogenesis remains unclear. The authors addressed this issue in the current article.


METHODS
A specimen aseptically obtained from the surgically resected combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma was processed for primary culture. The morphologic features of the established cell line cultured on a plastic dish and in type I collagen gel matrix, and transplanted in nude mice were examined.


RESULTS
The authors established a new human combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma cell line, designated KMCH-2, from a 40-year-old Japanese man. KMCH-2 cells on a plastic dish proliferated in a monolayered sheet with a population doubling time of 32 to 44 h. KMCH-2 expressed functional characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma, such as albumin synthesis at protein and mRNA levels, but were poorly differentiated in morphology, showing an overlap of features with cholangiocarcinoma. KMCH-2 cells cultured within type I collagen gel matrix proliferated, forming compact to vaguely trabecular and pseudoglandular arrangements, and differentiated to show morphological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma unlike the cells on a plastic dish. Mucin production was not detected in KMCH-2 cells in vitro. Subcutaneous tumors which developed in nude mice injected with KMCH-2 cells represented features of adenocarcinoma with mucin production.


CONCLUSIONS
The present results revealed the presence of an albumin-producing human hepatic neoplastic cell, such as KMCH-2, that can differentiate to show not only the features of hepatocellular carcinoma but also those of cholangiocarcinoma under certain growth conditions.
Yano
H
H
First Department of Pathology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
Iemura
A
A
Haramaki
M
M
Momosaki
S
S
Ogasawara
S
S
Higaki
K
K
Kojiro
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D002455:Cell Division; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D018281:Cholangiocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003094:Collagen; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D010969:Plastics; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D010969:Plastics; D003094:Collagen