Abstract
Hereditary asplenic-athymic (lasat) mice were used in a study of heterotransplantation of an established human glioma cell line designated KNS-42 derived from a glioblastoma located in the right posterior frontal and parietal lobes of a 16-year-old boy. All six lasat mice, inoculated with 6×106 to 1×107 cells subcutaneously, developed permanently growing tumors which were strikingly similar to the parent tumor. In paraffin sections the transplanted tumor tissue was of high cellularity and showed perivascular arrangement of tumor cells with marked endothelial proliferation, mitotic figures, and small necrotic foci. Invasive proliferation of the tumor cells beyond the proper connective tissue capsule of the mouse was also noted. Under electron microscopy tumor cells in the mice, similar to the cell line, retained a large amount of glial filaments measuring 9-10 nm in diameter. In an immunodiffusion study, the cell line and the tumors in mice showed a precipitation line with rabbit immune serum against purified glial fibrillary acidic protein.
