Characterization of a newly established, TA-4-producing squamous carcinoma cell line derived from metastatic tongue carcinoma.

A human squamous carcinoma cell line was established from the pleural effusion of a patient with recurrent squamous carcinoma of the tongue. The cell line, designated HST-I, has been passaged 82 times over a period of 4 years. The cells have been shown by light and electron microscopy to be of the squamous epithelial type. Immuno-histochemical staining was positive for keratin. When these cells were transplanted into athymic nude mice, tumors developed at the site of inoculation, which on histological examination were shown to be well-differentiated squamous carcinomas. Karyotypic analysis of cells from the cell line demonstrated an aneuploid human type with a modal chromosome number of 71, with both numerical and structural aberrations. HST-1 cells produce and secrete TA-4, a squamous-cell carcinoma-related antigen, in vitro in culture and in vivo in nude mice bearing the tumors produced by inoculation of cultured cells. Thus, the HST-1 cell line represents a new human tongue squamous carcinoma producing TA-4. This cell line appears useful for facilitating therapeutic investigations as well as biological studies on the association between cancerous growth and circulating TA-4 levels.