title: Establishment and characterization of a cancer cell line derived from an aggressive childhood liver tumor.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hepatoblastoma is a rare malignancy of childhood. The scarcity of adequate cell models has limited our understanding of this tumor. Here we describe and characterize a new human liver tumor cell line, Hep293TT, derived from an aggressive childhood hepatoblastoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hep293TT cells were established using primary tumor tissues from a 5-year-old Caucasian female child. This cell line has been maintained for more than 34 months and over 20 subcultures, and was characterized by histopathology, ELISA, genotype, cytogenetics, CGH array, immunohistochemistry, and molecular sequence analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cells were confirmed to originate from parental tumor cells, secrete alpha-fetoprotein, and express hepatic markers and beta-catenin. Hep293TT cells were able to form colonies in soft agar. Tumorigenicity was demonstrated by induction of solid tumors after subrenal capsule injection in immunodeficient mice. Hep293TT cells demonstrated a highly aneuploid karyotype, and a whole genome CGH analysis revealed chromosomal imbalances in every chromosome. Allelotype analysis demonstrated loss of alleles at distal 11p15.5 as is typical of embryonal tumors. Both Hep293TT cells and the primary tumor contain a deletion of 351 nucleotides in beta-catenin, as has been seen in other hepatoblastoma tumors. The cell line expressed beta-catenin protein in both full-length and partially deleted forms, and expressed NOTCH2 protein characteristic of hepatoblasts. No mutation was detected in the APC, MYH, MLH1, or MSH2 genes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This cell line, Hep293TT, is a valuable resource for the study of childhood liver cancer and may potentially provide a tool in the development of new agents.
authors.affiliation: Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Tina T-L
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Dinesh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rakheja
authors.forename: Jaclyn Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Hornsby
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tabaczewski
authors.forename: Marcio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malogolowkin
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feusner
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Miskevich
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schultz
authors.forename: Gail E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
mesh_terms: D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002648:Child; D055028:Comparative Genomic Hybridization; D003582:Cytogenetics; D005838:Genotype; D018197:Hepatoblastoma / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male