Isolation and characterization of mouse ovarian surface epithelial cell lines

The incidence of ovarian malignancies has significantly increased in the past decades in many countries, however, an appropriate animal model system enabling the study of ovarian cancer such as stable mouse ovarian epithelial cell lines has not yet been developed. Here we report the establishment of cell lines derived from mouse ovarian surface epithelium (MOSE) by two procedures - one, through the introduction of SV40 large T antigen DNA into C3H/He MOSE (T-Ag-MOSE) and another through spontaneous immortalization of cells from p53-deficient MOSE (p53-def-MOSE). p53-def-MOSE cell line did not show any transformed phenotype either in vitro culture system nor in vivo tumorigenicity assay, whereas T-Ag-MOSE formed tumors in nude mice. Tumors formed by the injection of T-Ag-MOSE were undifferentiated malignancies associated with heterologous mesothelial tissues such as those of the osteoid phenotype. The established MOSE cell lines are useful in the molecular analysis of the multistep carcinogenesis of ovarian tissues in humans.