c-myc amplification and expression in newly established human osteosarcoma cell lines.

Three cell lines were isolated from a patient with osteosarcoma of the femur. These lines were obtained from the primary neoplasm before (HTLA145) and after (HTLA161) chemotherapy and from a metastasis of the lung (HTLA195) in the same patient. The three cell lines exhibited a similar morphology in culture and formed tumors in nude mice which demonstrated a histopathology similar to that which had been observed in the patient. High expression of the genes coding for the alpha-1 and alpha-2 chain of collagen Type I was found in vitro and in s.c. tumors growing in nude mice. The c-myc protooncogene was amplified in all three cell lines and extensive expression of c-myc was found in vitro and in vivo. No heterogeneity in regard to c-myc expression in vivo was detected by in situ localization in tumors growing in nude mice.