Establishment and characterization of a human ovarian granulosa tumor cell line (HSOGT).

We successfully established a novel ovarian granulosa tumor cell line (HSOGT). The tumor tissue of the ovary was derived from a 25 year-old Japanese woman under her consent. The cell line was maintained for over 14 months, subcultured more than 73 times, and had a population doubling time of 18.9 hours. Phase contrast microscopy displayed a pavement-like arrangement without contact inhibition. The chromosome number showed a wide distribution of aneuploidy and the mode was 83; many marker chromosomes were observed. The HSOGT was also successfully xenotransplanted into nude mice. The cell line produced estradiol and has preserved some characters of granulosa cells with stable growth in vitro. We firmly believe that this cell line will be a most useful tool for endocrinological investigation of human granulosa cells.