A human cell line (KMCH-1) derived from a surgical specimen of combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma has been established. The original tumor consisted of both hepatocellular carcinoma of the trabecuiar type and cholangiocellular carcinoma. This cell line has been maintained for 26 months through 75 paseeges. KMCH-1 cells show characteristics of adenocarcinoma on light and electron microscopy. They proliferate in culture in a pave stone arrangement. The doubling time of them cells at the 24th passage was 39 hr. Chromosome analysis revealed a chromosome number ranging from 80 to 98, with a modal number of 74. KMCH-1 cells produd tumors several months after subcutaneous and intraperitoneal transplantations into athymic nude mice. Hietologically, the subcutaneous tumors were poorly differentiated adrenocarcinoma, while intraperi t o n d tumors were moderately to well-differentiated adenocarcinoma. Hepatocellular carcinoma components were not observed. Thus, KMCH-1 cells demonstrate the feature of cholangiocellular carcinoma in uitro and in Vim. This KMCH-1 cell line is the first established combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma cell line and may contribute to further investigation of combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma.
Combined hepatocellular a n d cholangiocarcinoma (CHC) is a rare form of primary liver cancer in which both components of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC) coexist in various degrees in the s a m e liver. I n 1949, Allen and Lisa (1) first described CHC i n detail and classified it into three subtypes. With increased interest i n primary liver cancer in recent years, the pathologic feature and histogenesis of CHC have been studied by a number of investigators.
Cell culture and heterotransplantation may be useful i n the investigation of histogenesis of CHC. There have been only two reports on transplantation of CHC tumors into nude mice, but neither study employed an established cell line (2, 3). T h i s paper reports the establish-