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Liebertz et al. Head Neck Oncology 2010, 2:5 http://www.
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Liebertz et al. Head Neck Oncology 2010, 2:5 http://www.headandneckoncology.org/content/2/1/RESEARCHOpen AccessEstablishment and Characterization of a Novel Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cell Line USC-HNDaniel J Liebertz1, Melissa G Lechner1, Rizwan Masood2, Uttam K Sinha2, Jing Han3, Raj K Puri3, Adrian J Correa1, Alan L Epstein1*AbstractBackground: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is an aggressive and lethal malignancy. Publically available cell lines are mostly of lingual origin, or have not been carefully characterized. Detailed characterization of novel HNSCC cell lines is needed in order to provide researchers a concrete keystone on which to build their investigations. Methods: The USC-HN1 cell line was established from a primary maxillary HNSCC biopsy explant in tissue culture. The immortalized cells were then further characterized by heterotransplantation in Nude mice; immunohistochemical staining for relevant HNSCC biomarkers; flow cytometry for surface markers; cytogenetic karyotypic analysis; human papillomavirus and Epstein-Barr virus screening; qRT-PCR for oncogene and cytokine analysis; investigation of activated, cleaved Notch1 levels; and detailed 35,000 gene microarray analysis. Results: Characterization experiments confirmed the human HNSCC origin of USC-HN1, including a phenotype similar to the original tumor. Viral screening revealed no HPV or EBV infection, while western blotting displayed significant upregulation of activated, cleaved Notch1. Conclusions: USC-HN1, a novel immortalized cell line has been derived from a maxillary HNSCC. Characterization studies have shown that the cell line is of HNSCC origin and displays many of the same markers previously reported in the literature. USC-HN1 is available for public research and will further the investigation of HNSCC and the development of new therapeutic modalities.Background Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) represents a cancer of increasing incidence worldwide with more than 45,000 head and neck malignancies diagnosed each year, of which greater than 90 are of squamous cell origin. This particularly lethal cancer, the sixth most common world-wide, has not seen an improvement in overall survival in more than four decades [1,2]. Standard-of-care treatment for the disease has been limited to surgical resection or combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Despite these treatments, the high rates of primary-site recurrence and common metastases to loco-regional lymph nodes* Correspondence: aepstein@usc.edu 1 Department of Pathology, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USAare responsible for the dismal prognosis of HNSCC. Clinically, more than one half of patients with locoregional advanced disease treated with chemoradiation, surgery Dasatinib or both experience recurrence within two years [3-5]. The presence of lymph node metastases alone decreases the chances of long-term survival by 50 [4]. Bio-molecular research into the cause of HNSCC has had some success; however, without the ongoing development of newly-established HNSCC cell lines, researchers are limited in these pursuits. At PubMed ID:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17139194 the present time, most of the currently available HNSCC cell lines deposited at the American Type Tissue Collection (ATCC) are derived from lingual tumors [1] despite the fact that there are multiple anatomically-exclusive locations from which HNSCC can develop. As shown in Figure.