Characterization, anticancer drug susceptibility and atRA-induced growth inhibition of a novel cell line (HUMEMS) established from pleural effusion of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma of breast tissue.

We recently established a cell line derived from pleural effusion from a 13-year-old girl with primary alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS with a chromosomal translocation t[2;13]) in the breast tissue. The cell line was designated as HUMEMS. Cases of primary alveolar RMS swelling in the breast are extremely rare (about 0.2% of all RMSs). Therefore, the HUMEMS cell line is an important material for studying therapeutics for malignant tumors in children. The HUMEMS cell line we isolated consisted of two morphological subtypes. One type (SSN cells) is small in size and has a single nucleus. Another (LMN cells) is large in size and has two or more nuclei. Both SSN cells and LMN cells were immunohistochemically positive for desmin and slightly positive for myoglobin. Our data suggested LMN cells are well-differentiated SSN cells. Moreover, in some of the LMN cells, rapid cell contractions (1-5 times/10 sec) were observed. We investigated the anticancer drug susceptibility of the HUMEMS cell line with an oxygen electrode apparatus (Daikin, DOX-10, JPN) and effect of all-trans-retinoic acid (atRA) to the cell line. The atRA-treatment inhibited proliferation of the HUMEMS cells.