title: A human combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma cell line (KMCH-2) that shows the features of hepatocellular carcinoma or cholangiocarcinoma under different growth conditions.
abstract: 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.
authors: First Department of Pathology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Yano
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Iemura
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Haramaki
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Momosaki
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Ogasawara
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Higaki
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Kojiro
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D010969:Plastics; D003094:Collagen