Tumor development and cytokine production by human colon tissues and carcinoma cell lines.
OBJECTIVE
Solid tumors evade the host immunologic responses they initiate by unknown mechanisms. The authors investigated patterns of cytokine content in human colon carcinomas, colon cancer cell lines in vitro, and nude mouse xenografts from those lines in order to clarify those mechanisms.


METHODS
Epithelial tumor cell lines were developed from specimens of human colon adenocarcinoma. Aliquots of these cells were then xenografted into female heterozygous BALB/c nu/+ immunologically deficient mice and serially passaged. Original tumors, cell lines, and resultant xenografts were then analyzed for histology/cytology and for levels of TGF-beta and TNF-alpha by enzyme linked immunoassay.


RESULTS
Cytokine levels were elevated beyond baseline mucosal levels in original tumors and xenograft mouse tumors but not detectable in extracts from epithelial cultures.


CONCLUSIONS
While the precise source of cytokine production remains unclear, these data suggest tumor/host interactions not found in pure epithelial cancer cells in culture.
Mohammadpour
H
H
Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Department of Surgery, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, Nevada, USA.
Hall
M R
MR
Pardini
R S
RS
Pardini
L
L
Khaiboullina
S F
SF
Manalo
P
P
McGregor
B
B
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000378:metabolism*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism*
D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha