2001 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 139-143
We succeeded in transplanting human osteogenic sarcoma into nude mice. Morphologically, the transplanted tumor showed the feature of chondrosarcoma and produced types I, II, and X collagen into a cartilaginous matrix. Recently we have established a unique cell line (USAC) with chondrocyte phenotypes from the transplanted tumor. Using this cell line, the relationship between changes in cell shape and expression of collagen mRNAs was investigated in vitro to clarify the characteristics of USAC cells.
The results revealed that type I collagen mRNA was mainly expressed in the cells at a growing to subconfluent stage, and type II collagen and type X collagen were in the cells at a subconfluent to confluent stage in a monolayer culture. To investigate the shapes of cells expressing each collagen, in situ hybridization, using spot culture. Type I collagen mRNA was detected in spindle cells at a marginal area, type II collagen mRNA was in polygonal cells at a middle area, and type X collagen was in hypertrophic cells at a central area. These results indicated that USAC cells have maintained characteristics of the original tumor.
