Chemically-induced in vitro malignant transformation of human esophagus fibroblasts

Neoplastic transformation of primary fibroblast culture derived from esophagus tissue of a 52-year old male esophageal cancer patient was induced by chemical carcinogen (N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, MNNG) treatment. The transformed cells showed the biological and morphological properties characteristic of malignant cells, such as loss of contact inhibition, unlimited growth in vitro, aneuploidy, agglutinability by concanavalin A, formation of microvilli on the cell surface, growth on solid agar medium and tumor (fibrosarcoma) formation after heterotransplantation into immunosuppressed newborn mice.