Carcinoembryonic proteins produced by Wilms' tumor cells in vitro and in vivo.

A Wilms' tumor cell line (HFWT) was established after tissue culture of the Wilms' tumor which had developed in the left kidney of a five-month-old boy. The HFWT line has the following cyto-biological characteristics: 1. The cells have a spindle, round or polygonal shape with neoplastic and pleomorphic features that grew in multilayers without contact inhibition. 2. The cells show a stable proliferation, giving 95 passages within 4 years. 3. The chromosomes show a wide aneuploidy distribution, and the modal number was found in diploid range. The stem cells have a normal karyotyping, 46, XY. 4. Heterotransplantation into nude mice can be easily made, and anaplastic Wilms' tumor resembling the original tumor forms. 5. The principal tumor markers produced by the cells in large amounts in the conditioned culture media were carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA 125) and tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA). 6. A good correlation was found between enlargement of the tumor formed by heterotransplantation into nude mice and the levels of CA 125 and TPA in the serum of the nude mouse. No report on the study of tumor markers widely used in clinical treatment of Wilms' tumor has been available to us, but CA 125 and TPA are considered to be useful in the diagnosis and treatment of Wilms' tumor.