Establishment of a human appendix mucinous adenocarcinoma cell line（AP-213）and its biological characters

A cell line designated as AP-213,derived from an autopsy case of mucinous adenocarcinoma of appendix with wide peritoneal spreading,was established.A total of 135 passages were carried out in a period of 21 months.
Microscopically,the cells were round or ovoid,assuming an epithelial pattern and stained positive with alcian blue and PAS.Indirect immunoperoxidase staining of monoclonal antibodies for cytokeratin and CEA were both positive.Ultrastructural studies showed that there were junctional complex between neighboring cells,microvilli on the cell surface and some mucous secret- ory vacuoles in the cytoplasm.The cells presented a hypertriploid karyotype.Though the number of chromosomes varied in different cells,the majority had 80—88.A big telocentric chromosome was found to be the marker chromosome in 90% cells.The doubling time for AP-213 cell population was 35.4 hours.The mitotic index was determined by counting 2000 cells daily and found to be approximately 29‰ at the highest peak.This cell line seems to represent an in vitro model for research of human intestinal adenocarcinoma.