Establishment and characterization of human hilar bile duct carcinoma cell line and cell strain.

We established and characterized a human hilar bile duct carcinoma (HBDC) cell line from cells isolated from the ascites of a 75-year-old Japanese woman. Histopathological findings were confirmed to be poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (pat BsrlCm according to the Japanese Society of Biliary Surgery General rules for surgical and pathological studies on cancer of the biliary tract, 4th edn.). Using a semi-agarose method, a daughter-cell strain was also established. Both the cell line and the strain were transplanted into scid or nude mice with a 100% inoculation rate. The population doubling times of the cell line and the strain were 32.25 and 35.78 h, respectively. The cell line and strain strongly expressed human epithelial antigen (HEA)-125 and cytokeratin (CK)-19 but did not express desmin and partly expressed vimentin. High values tumor markers (carbohydrate antigen [CA19-9], Span-1, KMO-1) were detected in culture supernatants from both the cell line and the cell strain and the concentrations paralleled the patient's serum data. DNA analysis revealed that the cell strain was diploid, whereas the cell line was aneuploid, with a DNA index (DI) of 0.85. Chromosomal analysis of the cell line and the strain revealed a range of numerical abnormalities (76–93 and 74–88, respectively) as well as structural abnormalities. The establishment of this HBDC cell line and strain may provide some benefit for fundamental biological research.