Establishment of a new cell line from maxillary sinus carcinoma

We succeeded in deriving a long-term tissue culture cell line from human maxillary sinus carcinoma. This cell line, designated as MC, was passaged 100 times in vitro over a period of 18 months. The cells are globular in shape, grow as single cells in the culture medium, and the mean population doubling time is about 12 hours. The plating efficiency rate in soft agar is 78% and chromosomal analysis revealed the modal chromosome number to be between 47 and 51. These MC cells were transplanted into five nude mice, all of which developed a tumor after a latency period of 5 to 8 days and died within 39 days. Complete autopsy of all mice revealed no metastasis. Histopathological findings of the original and the transplanted tumor tissues showed a remarkable similarity.