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Establishment of the Human BSMZ Breast Cancer Cell Line, Which Overexpresses the erbB-2 and c-myc Genes

Department of Microbiology [M. W., M. K., J. H. O., T. O.], Medical Institute [H. Tan.], Department of Internal Medicine [H. Tak., M. Z.], Department of Radiology [A. I.], and Department of Surgery [K. U.], Jikei University School of Medicine, 3-25-8 Nishishinbashi, Minato-ku Tokyo 105, Japan

A new cell line, designated BSMZ, was established from a malignant pleural effusion from a woman with breast cancer. This line has a doubling time of 27 h and has now been cultured for over 120 passages. The large, rounded BSMZ cells grow as both a monolayer and as aggregations in suspension. Intracytoplasmic lumen, a finding consistent with results from cells derived from mammary tissue, was detected on ultrastructural analysis. Injection of BSMZ cells into nude mice resulted in the growth of solid tumors 4 weeks after inoculation. The solid tumor was identical to the original BSMZ cells in microscopic and electron microscopic studies. These cells possess an average of 80 chromosomes.

Expression of erbB-2 and c-myc genes was increased by 10-fold, while there was no detectable overexpression of the N-ras and c-myb genes. Southern analysis has revealed amplification of the erbB-2 and c-myc loci. The BSMZ cell line may therefore provide a useful model for the study of human breast cancer and overexpression of the erbB-2 gene.

¹ To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received 8/26/91. Accepted 7/22/92.