Leonard J H, Bell J R
Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Australia.
Australas J Dermatol. 1997 Jun;38 Suppl 1:S91-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-0960.1997.tb01019.x.
Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) of the skin is an aggressive form of skin cancer and is being seen with increasing incidence in Queensland. We have recently established a number of MCC cell lines and characterized these for growth, morphology, expression of neuroendocrine markers and radiation sensitivity. As a result, cell lines were grouped into four classes by their morphology in a similar way to small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines. Types I and II cell lines grew slowly as tight spherical clusters suspended in the medium, with Type II cell lines less densely packed than the Type I cell lines. Type III cell lines grew as flat 2-dimensional clusters and had shorter doubling times and Type IV cell lines grew as adherent monolayers and had the shortest doubling times. Expression of neuroendocrine markers distinguished those with a classic phenotype from those with a variant one. Mainly morphological Types I and II retained the classic phenotype while Classes III and IV had a variant phenotype. The range of surviving fraction at 2 Gray (SF2 0.2-0.45) seen in MCC cell lines was not as high as seen in SCLC cell lines but the variant ones tended to be more radiation resistant. Examination of POU proteins showed that neuroendocrine phenotype was linked with expression of brn-2, and growth in suspension with brn-3c.
皮肤默克尔细胞癌（MCC）是一种侵袭性皮肤癌，在昆士兰州的发病率正呈上升趋势。我们最近建立了多个MCC细胞系，并对其生长、形态、神经内分泌标志物表达及辐射敏感性进行了表征。结果，这些细胞系按形态分为四类，类似于小细胞肺癌（SCLC）细胞系。I型和II型细胞系生长缓慢，呈紧密的球形簇悬浮于培养基中，II型细胞系的细胞密度低于I型细胞系。III型细胞系呈扁平的二维簇生长，倍增时间较短，IV型细胞系呈贴壁单层生长，倍增时间最短。神经内分泌标志物的表达将具有经典表型的细胞系与具有变异表型的细胞系区分开来。主要形态学上的I型和II型保留经典表型，而III类和IV类具有变异表型。MCC细胞系在2戈瑞（Gy）时的存活分数范围（SF2 0.2 - 0.45）不如SCLC细胞系高，但变异型往往对辐射更具抗性。对POU蛋白的检测表明，神经内分泌表型与brn - 2的表达相关，而悬浮生长与brn - 3c相关。
