Establishment of a carcinoembryonic antigen-producing cell line from human pancreatic carcinoma.

A human pancreatic carcinoma cell line of islet cell origin (QGP-1) has been established and maintained for over two years. The parent tumor and the cultured cell line produce carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and there is no evidence of hormone secretion from the tumor cells. The epithelioid cells, which had migrated from rounded, irregular cell aggregates, grow as a confluent monolayer with piling up of cells in some areas, and have a population doubling time of 3.5 days. The modal chromosome number was 50. Exponentially growing cultures produce 76.3 ng of CEA/10(6) cells after 7 days. CEA production was confirmed by immuno-peroxidase staining.