Cytogenetic characterization of three cell lines derived from primary cervical tumors

Braun et al established three cell lines from keratinizing and nonkeratinizing cervical carcinomas. These cell lines were subsequently analyzed for growth properties and physical state of the human papillomavirus type 16 genome. It was found that these cell lines have distinct growth properties in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, they differ in the physical state of the viral genome. TC-140/7, derived from a keratinizing cervical tumor, contains primarily human papillomavirus type 16 in the episomal state. Both TC-146A and TC-146B, derived from a nonkeratinizing large-cell cervical carcinoma, contain exclusively human papillomavirus type 16 in the integrated state. The chromosomes of these three cell lines were characterized in the present study using GTG-banding analysis. The most striking chromosomal abnormalities noted in the TC-140/7 cell line were the presence of a small metacentric consistent with the morphology of an i(12p) or i(5p), an isochromosome 8q and multiple copies of chromosome 9. For TC-146A, the most notable chromosomal abnormalities were in the presence of a derivative chromosome 7 with additional material present on its long arm, an i(8q) and derivative chromosome 19's. For cell line 146B, the most notable chromosomal abnormalities were found to be a marker resembling a derivative X chromosome, a derivative chromosome 7 with additional material on its long arms, an i(8q), an i(16q) and one or more copies of a marker with morphology resembling i(17q). Fluorescent in situ hybridization experiments using select probes further corroborate the results of the conventional cytogenetic studies.