Establishment of a cell line of gallbladder carcinoma (GBK-1) producing human colony stimulating factor

A cell line designated GBK-1 was established from a patient with anaplastic carcinoma of the gallbladder, marked neutrophilia and fever, and has been propagated for the past 18 months. The cells grew as a monolayer sheet with a doubling time of 43 hr. The GBK-1 cells were of a pleomorphic polygonal epitheloid shape and they were transplantable into nude mice. Mice bearing the tumor developed marked granulocytosis. In the culture supernatant of GBK-1 cells, high colony stimulating factor (CSF) activity was evident with both human bone marrow cells and C57BL mouse bone marrow cells, and granulocytic colonies, macrophage colonies or granulocyte-macrophage mixed colonies were produced. The CSF activity was distributed in the molecular weight range of 25,000 to 60,000 with two distinct peaks at molecular weights of approximately 50,000 and 30,000. CSF activity was inactivated by heat treatment at 70 degrees for 30 min. GBK-1 is a new human cell line that produces heat-labile human GM-CSF.