Establishment and Characterization of a Human Tongue Cancer Xenograft Line in Nude Mice

We established a human tongue cancer (well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma) xenograft line, LK-1, in nude mice. LK-1 showed logarithmic growth from 5 to 7 weeks after transplantation, and the take rate for 25 generations was 95.0%. We confirmed the expression of cytokeratins 1, 5, 7, 10, 14, 16, 17, 18 and 19, and type I, III, IV and V collagens by electrophoretical and immunohistochemical analyses. Although the amount of type I, IV and V collagens increased gradually from 5 weeks after transplantation, the distribution of type IV collagen was often discontinuous in the cancer basement membrane. From these data we concluded that LK-1 is an excellent model for the investigation of the cell biology of well-differentiated oral squamous cell carcinoma, and for examining the effects of clinical therapies for this disease.