Characterization of three cloned cell lines from a N-nitrosobis(2-hydroxypropyl)amine-induced transplantable hamster pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

To investigate characteristics of pancreatic carcinoma growth behavior, the cloned cell lines, HPD1NR, HPD2NR, and HPD3NR, were established from a transplantable hamster ductal adenocarcinoma induced by N-nitrosobis(2-hydroxypropyl)amine (BHP). All three clones showed similar epithelial cell morphology and grew as sheets in culture with no differences in doubling times, ranging from 23-28 h. Mutation in the c-Ki-ras exon 1 was detected in common. The modal chromosome numbers were also found to be similar at 60, 62, and 60-62 in the less than tetraploid cells in the three clones. In contrast, a clear difference in frequencies of tetraploid or polyploid cells at 24.7, 22.5, and 75.5% in HPD1NR, HPD2NR, and HPD3NR, respectively, was evident. Tumorigenic potency evaluated by transplanting individual clones revealed HPD3NR to display pronouncedly less growth in syngeneic hamsters. The results suggest that increase in frequency of tetraploid or polyploid cells might be associated with a decreased in vivo growth potential of hamster pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, and suggest that these clones might become a valuable tool for understanding in vivo growth mechanisms of cancer cells.