Establishment of a human cell line (HCC‐T) from a patient with hepatoma bearing no evidence of hepatitis B or A virus infection

A human hepatoma cell line, designated HCC‐T, was established. The tumor was surgically obtained from a Japanese male patient with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) arising in a cirrhotic liver that had supposedly developed from nonAnonB (NANB) chronic hepatitis. HCC‐T exhibited a typical morphology of epithelial cells in culture. Population doubling time was 24 hours and HCC‐T cells had characteristics of malignant cells demonstrated by the ability to grow in a soft agar medium and transplantability to nude mice. The histologic condition of the tumor transplanted to a nude mouse showed similarity to the original tumor. A chromosome analysis showed that there were ten identifiable marker chromosomes and sex chromosomes with its modal number of 64. Alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) production was demonstrated by direct immunofluorescence study, but albumin or hepatitis B surface antigen were not detectable. The integration of hepatitis B viral DNA was not demonstrable in the genome of HCC‐T cells or the original hepatoma.