Characteristics and establishment of cell lines from human gastrointestinal stromal tumors

To establish the cell line from specimens of resectable human gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) and to verify the characteristics of cell biology in vitro. The tissues from biopsies of human GIST were cultured in RPMI 1640 media supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. After growing to 90% confluence, the cells were detached for subculture and their characteristics, including morphology, growth kinetics, karyotype analysis, immunohistochemical analysis and tumorigenicity in nude mice were determined. GIST named GIST-H1 was successfully established. The cell line was passaged for more than 60 times 1 year. The characteristics demonstrated: The population doubling time calculated in the log phase of growth was 47.5 h. The cloning efficiency in the soft agar averaged 24.8%. Electronmicroscopically, there were rich ribosomes and mitochondrion in the cytoplasm. Immunohistochemical analysis showed CD117(+), SMA(+), dog-1(+), CD34(-), and S-100(-). Karyotype analysis illustrated aneuploidy with the modal chromosomal number 60-98. The GIST cells transplanted in nude mice had high tumorigenicity. The immortalized GIST cells are developed in vitro and have specific characteristics of GIST.