Establishment and characterization of human pancreatic cancer cell lines in tissue culture and in nude mice.

Three human pancreatic cancer cell lines, designated as KP-1N, KP-2 and KP-3 have been established in both tissue cultures and in nude mice. The KP-1N and KP-3 tumors were obtained from liver metastases of pancreatic tumors and the KP-2 tumors was of primary pancreatic origin. The patients' tumors from which KP-1N and KP-2 were derived showed characteristics of adenocarcinoma, and the KP-3 tumor had adenosquamous carcinoma characteristics. Inoculations of samples from surgical specimens into athymic nude mice resulted in tumor formation, with the tumors histologically closely resembling the original neoplasms. Subcutaneous injections of the established cell lines also induced tumor formation and the tumors histologically resembled the original lesion in the cases of KP-2 and KP-3 tumors, but the KP-1N tumors in the mice were histologically different from the surgical specimen. The KP-1N, KP-2 and KP-3 cell lines have been cultured continuously in a medium supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum for more than 20, 21 and 17 months, respectively. The KP-2 and KP-3 cell lines produced and released carbohydrate antigen 19-9 into the spent medium but the KP-1N cell line did not. KP-1N and KP-3, produced liver metastases after intrasplenic injection into nude mice, whereas KP-2 produced few liver colonies. Cell lines highly metastatic to the liver, KP-1NLs and KP-3Ls, were isolated from the liver colonies of KP-1N and KP-3, respectively.