In vitro propagation of prostate adenocarcinoma cells from rats.

Two rat adenocarcinomas were physically dispersed and propagated in vitro. Epithelial and fibroblast cell lines were cloned from them and the monolayer cell lines derived therof were further characterized. The cells produced acid phosphatase in early in vitro cell passages, and later they turned negative. Fibroblast-like cells produced no tumors when implanted in syngeneic Lobund Wistar rats, but as few as 10 epithelial cells produced metastasizing adenocarcinomas in them. A third prostate tumor has yielded a line of epithelial cells which reproduced the original tumor type in inoculated rats, but the cells have not yet been characterized. Rat prostate adenocarcinomas provided a useful model system for in vitro and in vivo studies on prostate cancer and on metatasis.