Establishment and Characterization of a Human Primary Prostatic Adenocarcinoma Cell Line (ND-1)

Abstract

A human primary prostatic adenocarcinoma cell line named ND-1 has been established in long term tissue culture. The cultured cells show growth in both monolayers and in soft agar suspension and produce subcutaneous tumors in nude mice. Cytogenetic analysis by G-banding demonstrated an aneuploid karyotype with a modal chromosome number of 62, and multiple marker chromosomes with 25-30% structural abnormalities. Ploidy analysis revealed that the majority of ND-1 cells (67%) had a DNA mass of 10.1 picogram and DNA index of 1.41. Nineteen percent of cells had a DNA mass of 21.3 picogram and DNA index of 3.0. Electron microscopic studies revealed common features of neoplastic epithelial cells such as numerous microvilli, junctional complexes, abnormal nuclei, nucleoli, and mitochondria. Due to the absence of a structurally normal Y chromosome, confirmation of the presence of a derived Y chromosome was achieved through the use of C-banding and through fluorescent in situ hybridization with a Y chromosome repeat probe. Tandem E PSA immunoenzymatic assay revealed that these ND-1 cells secrete small amounts of prostate specific antigen.