Establishment and characterization of OCUT-1, an undifferentiated thyroid cancer cell line expressing high level of telomerase

Background & Objectives: Undifferentiated thyroid cancer is one of the most aggressive human malignancies, and the prognoses that have been reported are extremely poor. A number of studies have described the clinicopathologic features of this tumor and analyzed its biologic background to explain the extraordinarily aggressive nature of the tumor. Still the mechanism of cellular aggressiveness in undifferentiated thyroid cancer is not yet fully understood. Methods: We established and characterized an undifferentiated thyroid cancer cell line, OCUT-1, derived from the surgical specimen obtained from a 74-year-old Japanese woman with advanced undifferentiated thyroid cancer. Results: The cell line had already maintained over 100 passages and was stably cultured for more than a year. The cell line was observed to maintain not only its morphologic similarity to the primary cancer cells, but also its aggressive nature, including high proliferative activity, numerous genetic abnormalities, and cytokine production. Further, we have demonstrated the expression of telomerase activity in the cell, which could represent one of the responsible mechanisms for the cellular aggressiveness of this type of tumor. Conclusions: This cell line might be useful for further study concerning the correlation between telomerase activation and disease progression or anaplastic change in thyroid cancer. (C) 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.