Human Uterine Sarcoma Cell Line, MES-SA - ATCC CRL-1976

MES-SA is a human uterine sarcoma cell line derived in 1980 from a surgical tumor specimen obtained at the time of hysterectomy from a 56 year old Caucasian female. The cell line was established from tumor cells documented to be a poorly differentiated uterine sarcoma, which were initially grown in soft agar and subsequently transferred to multiwell plates. These cells form tumors in athymic nude mice, readily form colonies in soft agar, and have a reported doubling time of 22 to 24 hours. The nonepithelial origin of this line was supported by ultrastructural analysis and negative mucin staining. They have a modal chromosome number of 45. Karyotypic abnormalities include: monosomic forms of chromosomes 5, 6 and 7, a 5q, 6p translocation, and one marker chromosome. MES-SA cells are sensitive to a number of chemotherapeutic agents including the anthracyclines (doxorubicin and dactinomycin), taxanes (paclitaxel and docetaxel), vinca alkaloids (vinblastine and vincristine), and epipodophyllotoxins (etoposide). These cells are negative for the multidrug resistance gene, MDR1, and its gene product, the ATP-dependent transporter, P-glycoprotein. This cell line has been deposited at the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC #CRL-1976).