Culture in vitro and related biological characteristics of rabbit VX2 carcinoma cells

    SU Chang£¬ZHANG Huiª²Zhong£¬LI Wenª²Hai£¬LIN Fang£¬LIANG Xiaoª²Hua£¬JIANG L¨¹ª²Quan£¬CHENG Qingª²Shu

    Department of Thoracic Surgery, Central Laboratory, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi¬ðan 710038, China, Department of Surgery, Jiangsu Provincial Corps Hospital, Chinese People¬ðs Armed Police Forces, Yangzhou 225000, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To separate and purify the rabbit VX2 carcinoma cell line in vitro and to characterize its biological features. METHODS: VX2 tumor fragments were isolated and cultured with explant culture techniques and enzymatic digestion in vitro. After 40 passages, the cell morphology, cell cycle, karyotype and tumorigenecity in rabbits and nude mice were investigated. RESULTS: The newly established cell line VX2 was maintained in continuous culture over 50 passages for 8 months. Morphologically, VX2 cells were uniform, round and polygonal epithelial cells. The cells were small but had a high nucleocytoplasmic ratio. The cell cycle analysis showed 74.61% in G1 phase, 7.78% in G2 phase and 17.6% in S phase. The population doubling time was 26.4 h. The chromosomal analysis showed a hypoª²triploid with a median chromosome number of 60. The tumorigenecity in rabbits and nude mice will be ensured under a high VX2 cell inoculating concentration. CONCLUSION: The VX2 is a squamousª²cell carcinoma resulting from malignant change in a papilloma induced with the Shope virus in rabbits. It has already been purified in vitro, and can be applied to further researches. ......