In vitro cultivation of human renal cell cancer. I. Establishment of cells in culture.

A technique for initiating and propagating epithelial cell cultures of human renal cell cancer and adjacent nontumor kidney is described. Seventy-five percent of the tumors and 79% of the adjacent kidney specimens cultured with this method have shown initial outgrowth and have been subcultured at least once. Two renal cell cancer cultures initiated by this method have now been in continuous culture more than 6 months, have been subcultured 27 and 18 times, and now appear to be stable lines. The ability to establish long-term in vitro cultures of human renal cell cancers will facilitate studies concerning the immunoreactivity, cholesterol metabolism, the isolation of renal-cell-cancer-specific antigens, and in vitro chemotherapy testing and will further our understanding of the basic biology of human renal cell cancer.