Response to hormones of cells cultured from human giant cell tumors of bone.

Giant cell tumors of bone obtained from 7 patients were dispersed with clostridial collagenase and trypsin and adherent cells were maintained in culture. Early cultures contained both mononucleated and multinucleated cells presumably derived from the stromal and giant cells of the original tumor. The original multinucleated cells did not survive for greater than 7-10 days whereas the mononucleated cells persisted and could be passaged by trypsinization. In 5 of 7 early cultures exposed to parathyroid hormone (PTH) there was a rise in cAMP within 5-10 min in both cells and medium which averaged approximately 12-fold. None of the cells responded to calcitonin and a variable rise in cAMP was seen after incubation with prostaglandin E2. In cells cultured from 3 tumors the PTH response disappeared with passage of the cells, but in the remaining 2, PTH response persisted through multiple passages. The presence as well as the magnitude of the PTH-induced cAMP response in these cells is consistent with a skeletal origin.