Immunological, biochemical, ultrastructural, and electrophysiological characteristics of a human glioblastoma-derived cell culture line

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Abstract
Multiple techniques were used to study the established human cell line LM developed in culture medium from a patient with a right temporoparietal glioblastoma. This cell line has a human subtetraploid karyotype and has several features of a transformed line in culture. These include continuous propagation for 10 yr, ability to form tumor nodules when transplanted into immunologically suppressed hamsters and pleomorphic appearance. Ultrastructurally it is characterized by multiple nuclei, few actin cables and numerous surface-membrane microvilli as well as abundant 9-10 nm cystoplasmic filaments. By its immunological reactivity, the line contains glial fibrillary acidic protein at low levels, consistent with its glial origin and continued nature. Dibutyryl (db) cAMP induces formation of long astrocytic-like processes. Its membrane electrical characteristics include a low resting membrane potential and short time constant. Used in a microtiter antiglioma antibody cytotoxicity assay, LM yields a positive reaction to antibodies in the sera of 80% of patients with astrocytomas and only 9% of normal blood-bank donors, suggesting that it shares common antigens with other astrocytic tumor lines. The varied characteristics of this glioblastoma-derived line emphasize the multiforme nature of the neoplasm and suggest that for characterization of any such line, multiple parameters are necessary to allow comparison with other long-term glioblastoma lines in the literature. The usefulness of the LM line in in vitro cell biological, immunological, chemotherapeutic and radiobiological studies of gliomas makes such efforts very worthwhile.