Hepatocellular carcinoma cell line and peripheral blood lymphocytes from the same patient contain common chromosomal alterations.

A cell line derived from the biopsy of a human hepatocellular carcinoma which retains the differentiated phenotype of the liver parenchymal cell is described. Comparison of the integration sites of hepatitis B virus within the cellular genome of the biopsy specimen and within the genome of the multiply-passaged cell line reveals five stable sites of viral integration in the host cell genome. Multiple chromosome abnormalities are found in this cell line, some in the same area of the genome in which abnormalities were found in other human hepatomas. Chromosomes obtained from the peripheral blood cultures of the same patient manifest multiple signs of chromosome instability including breaks, minutes, chromosome pulverization, and acentric fragments, some of which localize to the chromosomal sites involved in the abnormalities in the tumor cell line. Chromosomal instability and/or virus-induced chromosome damage as factors in the etiology of human hepatocellular carcinoma are discussed.