Maintenance of morphology and tumour marker production in human epidermoid lung carcinoma xenografts.

The histopathology and the expression of various marker substances including cytokeratin, epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) of ten human epidermoid lung carcinoma xenograft lines were compared with the corresponding donor patient tumours. It was found that the histological structure and the tumour markers were maintained by the xenografts. Neoplastic cells were more effectively detected using anti-keratin antibodies as compared to antibodies against EMA. CEA immunoreactivity was more common in well differentiated tumours. With the aid of electron microscopy, the known cellular heterogeneity of epidermoid lung carcinomas in man was also confirmed in these xenografts.