Establishment of a new human synovial sarcoma cell line, FU-SY-1, that expresses c-Met receptor and its ligand hepatocyte growth factor.

Only a small number of human synovial sarcoma cell lines have been reported, and of those, not all have been fully characterized, especially at the molecular level. We describe here the establishment and characterization of a new human cell line, FU-SY-1, which originated from a monophasic fibrous synovial sarcoma arising in the supinator muscle of a 31-year-old woman. This cell line propagated continuously in vitro for 73 serial passages for more than 36 months. FU-SY-1 cells in vitro were rather small, exhibited a spindle or polygonal shape without conspicuous pleomorphism, and expressed c-Met and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) as determined by immunocytochemistry. Cytogenetically, FU-SY-1 cells maintained a consistent karyotype: 47, X, +7, t(X;18)(p11.2;q11.2), the same as that of the original tumor specimen. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) demonstrated a SYT-SSX fusion transcript and expression of c-Met and HGF mRNA in FU-SY-1 cells. A subsequent sequence analysis using the PCR products confirmed that the detected messages were derived from the SYT-SSX1 fusion gene. This cell line, FU-SY-1, established from a monophasic fibrous synovial sarcoma, may therefore be a useful tool for investigation of the mechanisms of tumorigenesis and progression in human synovial sarcomas.