Characterisation of seven newly established head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines

Seven squamous cell carcinoma cell lines were disintegrated from biopsies of patients with head and neck cancer. Genotyping tests verified the authenticity and the human origin of all seven lines. The cell lines designated as University of Kiel, Head and Neck (UKHN) -1 to -3 and UKHN-6 to -9 were subjected to flow cytometry and indirect immunofluorescence to assess aberrant DNA content. To confirm the squamous epithelial origin of the cells, the cytokeratin profile was immunocytologically analysed. The cell lines showed individual differences in mitotic frequency. UKHN-1, -6, -7 and -9 grew as monolayers, whereas UKHN-2, -3, and -8 tend to multilayer stratification. Overexpression of LOXL4 and Pim-1 proteins as distinctive features of head and neck carcinomas were shown in all seven cell lines. Inoculating SCID mice with these cell lines resulted in tumour formation, hence corroborating the tumourigenicity of all seven cell lines. The cell lines were also tested for high-risk HPV types using different DNA-based assays and found to be negative.