Characterization of a human ovarian carcinoma

An epithelial ovarian carcinoma from a patient with progressive disease who had received combination chemotherapy was established as a cell line and characterized. The doubling time of the cell line was seven days. The subcutaneous inoculation with 10(6) cells into an athymic nude mouse produced a 5 X 5-mm nodule with a histology similar to that of the original tumor. The malignant epithelial cells were aneuploid and varied in chromosome numbers from 50 to 115; double minutes were present in 25% of the cells. Antibodies specific for keratin showed a dense filamentous keratin network within the cells. No estrogen receptors were identified by immunocytochemistry. A heterogeneous tumor population in the sixth passage was suggested by flow cytometric analysis. This cell line may be a useful in vitro model for studying the biology and mechanisms of radiation and/or chemotherapy resistance of ovarian carcinomas.