Establishment of xenografts and cell lines from well-differentiated human thyroid carcinoma

Background: Our aim was to establish Chinese human thyroid cancer cell lines and to provide the material for thyroid cancer research. Methods: We collected thyroid cancer tissues from 93 patients with thyroid cancer for developing the primary culture. Thyroid cancer tissues were verified by frozen sections during the operations, then subjected to primary cell culture. During the first several passages, fibroblasts were removed by selective attachment. Results: From the 93 cancer tissues used, two follicular cancer tissues from the metastatic area (CGTH W-1, CGTH W-2) and one papillary thyroid cancer tissue (CGTH W-3) could be passed over 50 times. Cellular transformation with loss of contact inhibition occurred during passages 5-8. Electron microscopic studies of the CGTH W-1 cell line showed the presence of an abundance of mitochondria and Golgi complex. Presence of microvilli with interdigitations between neighboring cells were found in CGTH W-2 and CGTH W-3 cell lines. Severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice were used to determine whether these cells were tumorigenic. Two months after transplantation of 1 x 10⁷ CGTH W-1, 2, and 3 cells into SCID mice, subcutaneous tumors ~ 2-2.5 cm in size were clearly visible. After affinity cross-linking, an IGF-I with insulin-like growth factor binding proteins complex corresponding to a molecular size of 41 kDa was observed in culture media collected from CGTH W-1, SW 579, and RO82 W-1 cells. Conclusions: Three thyroid cancer cell lines were established, which may provide material for future thyroid cancer research.