Cellular heterogeneity and drug resistance in two ovarian adenocarcinoma cell lines derived from a single patient.

Two ovarian cell lines were derived from the ascites of a patient before and after the onset of resistance to chemotherapy involving cis-platinum, chlorambucil and 5-fluorouracil. Characterization of these lines shows them to have various features in common and some significant differences. Cytologically the lines cannot be distinguished and they both contain high concentrations of oestrogen receptor. However, they do differ with respect to their growth characteristics, karyotype, glutathione content and sensitivity to cis-platinum. The karyotypes of the 2 lines show several marker chromosomes in common but the resistant line contained a chromosome 8 and a 17 which were absent from the earlier sensitive line. This suggests a clonal origin with subsequent divergence to a heterogeneous population.