New murine cell line derived from a spontaneous lung tumor induces paraneoplastic syndromes

LP07 is a new cell line derived from P07 lung tumor, spontaneously arisen in a BALB/c mouse. LP07 is composed of heterogeneous epithelioid polyhedric cells that proliferate at a slow rate, have low plating efficiency and are unable to grow in soft agar. Only some LP07 cells expressed cytokeratins while most of them were positive for vimentin. Ultrastructure studies showed that LP07 cells established rudimentary intercellular unions, formed glandular-like conducts and presented conspicuous secretory granules, suggesting an epithelial-glandular origin, with neuroendocrine components. Upon injection LP07 cells formed poorly differentiated non-invasive adenocarcinomas, and tumor bearing mice developed leukocytosis, hypercalcemia and cachexia. This tumor cell line constitutes a useful tool to study lung tumor biology and paraneoplastic syndromes.