Characterization of a continuous cell line in culture established from a Krukenberg tumour of the ovary arising from a primary gastric adenocarcinoma.

A unique cell line has been established in culture from a biopsy taken from a Krukenberg tumour of the ovary arising from a primary gastric adenocarcinoma. This continuous cell line, designated KS-1, displayed epithelial-type morphological characteristics and approx. 1% of the cells had eccentric nuclei featuring the signet ring-like cells observed in the original tumour: these proved positive for neutral and acidic mucopolysaccharides. KS-1 cells have been maintained in suspension culture and had a population doubling time in logarithmic growth of approx. 28 h. They readily formed colonies in soft agar or agarose with efficiencies of 10-15%, but failed to produce tumours on inoculation into nude mice. KS-1 cells had a modal chromosome number of 60-65, with a range of 48-77%. Ten to 30 double minutes were present in most cells and several clonal marker chromosomes were identified. The effects of a 24 h in vitro exposure of KS-1 cells to a range of concentrations of 5-fluorouracil, adriamycin, mitomycin C or cisplatin have been quantitated by clonogenic assay and these values have been compared with those reported using a range of other human tumour cell lines, under comparable experimental conditions.