NORMAL GENOMIC

• Tannehill-Gregg S, Kergosien E, Rosol TJ
• Feline head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell line: characterization,production of parathyroid hormone-related protein, and regulation bytransforming growth factor-beta.
• In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim. 2001; 37: 676-83
• Display abstract

• A natural animal model for human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma(H/N SCC) has not been described. The domestic cat has a high spontaneousoccurrence of oropharyngeal SCC, which is similar to the human disease inaggressiveness and incurability. We have developed a cell line (SCCF1)from a laryngeal SCC of a cat. Keratinocytes were maintained in culturefor greater than 50 passages. SCCF1 had strong cytokeratinimmunohistochemical staining, weak vimentin staining, and no p53 staining.Ultrastructual features included cytokeratin filaments and desmosomes, aswell as features of anaplasia (irregular cytoplasmic and nuclear margins,surface filopodia, and abnormal intermediate filament production).Karyotype analysis revealed aneuploidy, with a stemline chromosomal numberof 34. The cells grew logarithmically for 6 d until confluency. SCCF1expressed parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) messengerribonucleic acid (mRNA) and protein, and secreted the protein into themedium. Treatment of SCCF1 with transforming growth factor-beta increasedPTHrP production but did not affect PTHrP mRNA stability. Reversetranscriptase-polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify a 282-basepair region of feline PTHrP mRNA, encoding portions of the pre-pro andcoding regions. The complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) was clonedand sequenced. The cDNA and the predicted amino acid sequences had a highdegree of homology to human and canine PTHrP. RT-PCR was used to confirmalternate splicing of PTHrP mRNA for translation of PTHrP 1-139 and PTHrP1-141. The SCCF1 cell line will permit mechanistic experiments on geneticdysregulation in neoplastic keratinocytes of the feline oropharynx, anddevelopment of an in vitro model for H/N cancer.