CHARACTERIZATION OF A HUMAN OVARIAN-CARCINOMA CELL-LINE (NIH-OVCAR-3) WITH ANDROGEN AND ESTROGEN-RECEPTORS

  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 43  (11) , 5379-5389
Abstract
A cell line, NIH:OVCAR-3, was established from the malignant ascites of a patient with progressive ovarian adenocarcinoma after combination chemotherapy. OVCAR-3 grows as a cobblestone-like monolayer with foci of multilayering, is tumorigenic in athymic mice, clones in agarose, and has an abnormal karyotype which includes a homogeneous staining region and a double minute chromosome. The cultured cells and xenografts contain cytoplasmic androgen- and estrogen-binding macromolecules with the specificity of the respective steroid hormone receptors. These components have sedimentation coefficients of 7-95 in low-salt sucrose-density gradients, have dissociation constants of 250 and 9.6 pM, and are present at concentrations of 30 and 28 fmol/mg cytosol protein characteristic of androgen and estrogen receptors, respectively. OVCAR-3 is resistant in vitro to clinically relevant concentrations of adriamycin (5 .times. 10-5 M), melphalan (5 .times. 10-6 M), and cisplatin (5 .times. 10-7 M) with survival compared to untreated controls of 43, 45 and 77%, respectively. There are multiple histological similarities between the patient''s original tumor, the cell line and the transplantable tumor. OVCAR-3 may be of use for investigations as to the significance of androgens and estrogens, and the mechanisms of cytotoxic drug resistance in ovarian cancer.