Growth and chemotherapeutic response in athymic mice of tumors arising from human glioma-derived cell lines.

Fifteen permanent cell lines derived from human gliomas were subcutaneously transplanted into athymic nude mice (nu/nu genotype, NIH Swiss and BALB/c backgrounds). Four were tumorigenic. Three of the four (D-54 MG, U-118 MG, and U-251 MG) produced progressively growing, solid, noncystic tumors. Subcutaneous volume measurement of these tumors, which correlated directly with tumor weight, was a reliable method for monitoring growth. All three cell lines which produced progressively growing subcutaneous tumors were also tumorigenic when cells were inoculated intracerebrally. These grew as well-circumscribed, intraparenchymal brain tumors. After initial implantation, each of the progressively growing, solid, subcutaneous tumors was histologically similar to the permanent cell lines from which it was derived. Tumors could be reliably passed, and stabilization of latency periods and growth rates developed. Tumors became morphologically less distinct in later passages, though some individual features remained. Mice bearing subcutaneous tumors from each of these cell lines were treated with a single ip dose of 25 mg/kg BCNU and compared to controls receiving only drug vehicle. A significant, but different, amount of reduction in tumor mass occurred among each of the three tumor lines. This model allows cell lines derived from human gliomas to be grown in animal hosts, thereby providing a potential means for evaluating growth parameters and chemotherapeutic responsiveness of tumors derived from individual human gliomas or cell lines.