Mahmood Yoonessi

Characterization of human ovarian and endometrial carcinoma cell lines established on extracellular matrix

Six cell lines were established from four patients with advanced carcinoma of the ovary and from one patient with carcinoma of the endometrium. These lines were established from fresh tumor material maintained initially on culture dishes coated with an extracellular matrix (ECM) produced by bovine corneal endothelial cells. Two of the six lines continue to require ECM as a substrate for optimal growth while the remaining four lines will proliferate on ECM or plastic substrate. Four cell lines transplanted into athymic nude mice were tumorigenic and maintained histologic and karyotypic similarities between the patients original tumor, the cell line, and the transplantable tumor. Furthermore, in vitro degradation of ECM was grossly apparent by those cell lines which formed nude mice xenografts. Tumor cells were characterized by cytology, transmission electron microscopy, karyology, substrate requirements, steroid binding protein analysis, and morphological appearance in culture.

Endometrial carcinoma: Causes of death and sites of treatment failure

A retrospective analysis of causes of death in 398 patients with endometrial carcinoma and sites of treatment failure in 105 cases, all seen at the University of Michigan Medical Center between 1930 and 1971, is the subject of this report. Of 398 patients (337 with Stage I, 61 with Stage II disease), 183 (46%) died with endometrial carcinoma, and 122 (31%) died free of cancer. The cause of death in 35 cases (9%) was a known or unknown malignancy, and remained undetermined in 58 patients (14%). The exact site of treatment failure was identified in 105 cases. Forty‐one (40%) failures were considered local, 32 (30%) geographic, and 32 (30%) both local and distant. The uterus and lungs were the most common sites of local failure and distant metastasis, respectively. Of patients who died free of cancer, 88% survived 5 or more years, and 32% survived 20 years or longer.

Three related near-haploid clones in a primary endometrioid carcinoma of the ovary

We report the cytogenetic findings in a primary endometrioid carcinoma of the ovary from a 29-year-old woman. Three clones with counts of 30, 29, and 27 chromosomes were observed. The predominant clone had 29 chromosomes and the following karyotype: 29, X, -X, -3, -3, +der(3)ins(3;?) (q21;?), -4, -5, -6, -8, -9, -11, -13, -14, -15, -16, -17, -18, -19, -21, -22, +mar. The clone with 30 chromosomes had an additional marker in the form of a minute chromosome, and the clone with 27 chromosomes was monosomic for chromosomes 12 and 20 also. Interestingly, there was no nullisomy of any of the chromosomes.

Extracellular matrix-coated cultre dishes: An in vitro model for primary human gynecologic tumors

Culture dishes coated with an extracellular matrix (ECM) produced by bovine corneal endothelial cells were utilized to investigate human gynecologic carcinomas of epithelial origin. A high culture success rate was achieved for both solid tumor (83%) and ascitic fluid (75%) derived from specimens from 59 patients. Because of the high percentage of tumor cells attaching to the ECM and actively proliferating, a variety of in vitro studies (karyotypic analysis, morphologic appearance on ECM, and ability to digest the ECM) could be done. A preliminary in vitro profile of the various tumor cell types could be made on the basis of these studies. In addition, five long-term cultures were established utilizing the ECM model system.