SNU-638 Cells

The SNU-638 cell line is a human gastric carcinoma model established from the ascitic fluid of a male gastric cancer patient. It exhibits poor differentiation and minimal desmoplasia, and in vitro it grows in a mixed pattern with heterogeneous density and poor attachment to the culture substrate. The cells maintain a round to oval contour and display a low nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio, with limited development of microvilli. These characteristics reflect features commonly associated with aggressive gastric cancer phenotypes and make the line suitable for studying poorly differentiated gastric adenocarcinomas.

At the molecular level, SNU-638 does not harbor mutations in the *c-Ki-ras* gene but does express high levels of tumor-associated markers such as CA 19-9 and tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA), with absent alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) expression. It also carries a *TP53* gene mutation, which is frequently found in gastric cancers and plays a central role in tumorigenesis. Genomic profiling revealed that SNU-638 lacks MET amplification or overexpression, categorizing it as MET-negative with minimal dependency on the MET signaling pathway. This molecular profile makes SNU-638 a valuable control cell line in studies targeting MET or evaluating the efficacy of MET inhibitors in gastric cancer.