Growth of human nondiploid primary prostate tumor epithelial cells in vitro.

Research into molecular and cellular defects underlying prostate cancer would be advanced by in vitro models of prostate tumor cells representing patient tumors. We have propagated, in serum-free medium, epithelial cell cultures derived from nondiploid prostate tumors and normal human prostate. The serial passage tumor cells exhibited nondiploid karyotype and transformed phenotypes of focus formation and anchorage-independent growth. In contrast, the normal prostate cells showed diploid karyotype and lacked transformed phenotypes. Both the tumor and normal cells were positive for prostate-specific antigen and cytokeratins 18 and 19 and negative for keratin 15. These results demonstrate that the nondiploid prostate tumors and normal prostate epithelial cell cultures retained their respective in vivo properties and should allow studies to elucidate molecular alterations involved in human prostate cancer.