Establishment and characterization of a cell line from a human cholangiocellular carcinoma.

A cell line, HuH-28, was established in vitro from a patient with cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC). This cell line has grown slowly, revealing a doubling time of approximately 80 h, and the serial passages were carried out 20 times within 10 months. Light microscopy revealed spindle and polygonal morphology of the cells. Chromosome number of the cells were distributed near the hypotriploid region at passages 3 and 14. HuH-28 cells were not transplantable into nude mice, but secreted some tumor markers including alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT), beta 2-microglobulin (BMG), ferritin, elastase-1, and tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA). This HuH-28 cell line will represent a good model for the investigation of carcinogenesis, histogenes, and diagnosis of CCC.