Growth patterns in vitro of invasive squamous carcinomas of the cervix—a correlation of cultural, histologic, cytogenetic and clinical features

Abstract Growth patterns of primary cultures of human cervical invasive squamous carcinomas were analysed with regard to cell cohesion, differentiation, cell shape, stratification and migration. On the basis of these criteria, the tumor cultures were divided into several distinct morphologic groups. Collagen gel proved superior to glass as a growth surface for cancer cells, but did not influence the morphologic classification of the cultures. In addition to the initial tissue‐specific epithelial outgrowths, secondary non‐specific epithelioid cells appeared in many of the cultures. The in vitro growth patterns of the tumors were correlated to histologic, cytogenetic and clinical characteristics. Cell cohesion in culture was associated with carcinomas that were histologically cohesive, poorly differentiated or of the basal cell type and had small nuclei with near‐diploid chromosome stemlines. Lack of cohesion in culture was related histologically to dispersed cell infiltration, squamous differentiation, large, differentiating nuclei and to higher chromosome modes. Some tumor cultures underwent characteristic changes, similar to changes in benign epithelial cultures. These features were interpreted as evidence of differentiation of squamous carcinoma cells in vitro , and were related to differentiation in vivo . There was a tendency for differentiating cultures to originate from exophytic tumors in early clinical stages and to be associated with a satisfactory short‐term radiation response. These results suggest that some characteristics of squamous carcinomas in primary culture are expressions of tumor cell properties present in vivo .