Epithelial cell cultures from normal and cancerous human tissues.

Thirty epithelial cell strains were isolated from human carcinomas and normal epithelial tissues by collagenase digestion and selective removal of fibroblasts with trypsin-Versene. Most strains were obtained from metastatic carcinomas or epithelia of the urinary and intestinal tracts. The success rate for growth of both neoplastic and normal tissues (excluding skin) was 38%. Six of these strains showed gross morphologic and chromosome changes typical of malignant cells. Nine resembled normal epithelium. The other 15 exhibited some degree of morphologic change from normal.