Figure 1.
Characterization of human primary colon cancer cells (HPCC). (A) HPCC cells exhibit epithelial-like morphology as human colon cancer cell line HCT-116. During initial growth in culture (Upper panel), HPCC cells formed small islets; while in late stage of growth (lower panel) they formed multilayer culture, similar to HCT-116 cells. Scale bar = 200 μm. (B) HPCC cells react only with cytokeratin but not vimentin as determined using an immunofluoresent staining assay. Nuclei (blue staining) were counterstained with DAPI. Scale bar = 20 μm. (C) HPCC display transformation capability as determined using a soft-agar assay. HPCC cells (1x104/well) were plated in soft agar containing the medium with 10% FBS in 6-well plates for 14 days. Scale bar = 50 μm.