title: Establishing tumor cell lines from aggressive telomerase-positive chordomas of the skull base. Technical note.
abstract: Permanent cell cultures are invaluable tools for understanding the biological characteristics of tumors. In the present study the authors report on the establishment of permanent human cell lines from three cases of aggressive chordomas of the clival region. All of the parental tumors showed telomerase activity. Cultured chordoma cells had a doubling time of 5 to 7 days and grew as a monolayer of cells that retained both the immunophenotype and the p53 status of the parental tumor. In vitro, chordoma cells overexpressed telomerase, supporting the hypothesis that this enzyme is required for the immortalization process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Oncology, and Molecular Medicine, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ricci-Vitiani
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pierconti
authors.forename: Maria Laura
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Falchetti
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Petrucci
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Maira
authors.forename: Ruggero
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Maria
authors.forename: Luigi Maria
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Larocca
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pallini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002817:Chordoma / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D003388:Cranial Fossa, Posterior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019292:Skull Base Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D019098:Telomerase / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D019098:Telomerase