Establishment and characterization of novel human uterine leiomyosarcoma cell lines

Patients with unresectable advanced uterine leiomyosarcoma have a very poor prognosis because no effective chemotherapeutic protocols exist. There are currently few established primary human uterine leiomyosarcoma cell lines that can be used to investigate effective therapies. To overcome this problem, we carried out long-term in vitro cell culture and/or nude mouse transplantation and successfully established novel human uterine leiomyosarcoma cell lines from extrauterine and intrauterine tumors that were surgically excised from a single patient. The established cells were characterized by flow cytometry, anticancer drug-sensitivity assays and karyotyping analyses. All the established cell lines showed unstable multiple chromosome abnormalities. Since the cells can proliferate in vitro and in vivo, they will be useful for developing new therapeutic strategies for advanced uterine leiomyosarcoma patients.