Tissue-Culture Studies of Human Oral Carcinoma 1. Proliferative Capacities of Non-malignant and Malignant Oral Explants

During recent years tissue-culture systems have been used widely as models for a variety of biologic investigations. Derived data have increased understanding and opened approaches to further study of cancer as well as to many other enigmatic disease processes. More specifically, in the area of cancer management most investigations have dealt with the effects of physical and chemical agents on cell growth and metabolism; very little data has been accumulated in relation to diagnosis or prognosis. There is disagreement among investigators as to whether the findings from experiments on standard cell lines are directly applicable to other neoplasms in their natural tumor bed. If investigations utilizing tissue-culture systems could be related to individual-patient problems, the resulting data could be useful in the clinical management of cancer. A project evolved in which oral tissues obtained from individual patients were to be cultured and investigated. Ultimately it was hoped that such studies might lead to conclusions that would in themselves offer guidance in the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of individual oral cancers. Initial experiments were designed pertaining to growth and morphology of oral explants and established cell lines in tissue culture. This phase of the report is intended to describe and discuss some of the problems encountered in explanting and cultivating oral cells.