Establishment of human cancer cell clones with different characteristics: a model for screening chemopreventive agents.

Background: The present study was undertaken in order to establish phenotypically different cell clones from 10 parental lines of human breast (MCF-7 and T-47D), prostate (PC-3 and DU145), lung (A549 and A427), colon (HCT-116 and HT-29) and bladder (TCCSUP and T24) cancer cells. Materials and Methods: Sublines were established from each of the parental lines by the limiting dilution method. The derived clones were characterized in terms of plating efficiency, cell proliferation rate, saturation density and colony formation efficiency in soft agar. Results: Phenotypically different cell clones were derived from each parental human cancer cell line, with many clones having more 'normal' characteristics than the parental line from which they were derived. Conclusion: Phenotypically normal clones obtained through clonal selection from human cancer cell populations are expected to be a useful tool for the screening of cancer chemopreventive agents and the study of tumor progression.