Human prostatic epithelial cells in culture: clonal selection and androgen dependence of cell line EB 33.

The permanent epithelial strain EB 33 was initiated from primary cultures of a human prostatic adenocarcinoma in June 1973. To establish androgen dependence of growth EB 33 cells were grown in various media. The effect of androgen withdrawal was studied by the application of media containing sera that had undergone steroid extraction procedures with dichloromethane and activated charcoal. The growth rate of the original EB 33 population was not influenced by withdrawal or addition of androgenic hormones. There were 111 clones developed by single cell plating of EB 33 cells and 23 clonal lines responded to extracted media with a depression of growth of at least 50 per cent. These findings were verified in growth curve experiments. Testosterone and 5-alpha-dihydrotestosterone slightly accelerated growth but did not fully compensate the depression of cell counts seen in extracted media. These findings may be consistent with hormone dependence of growth of clonal lines developed from the human prostatic epithelial strain EB 33.