DU-145 Cells

DU145 is a human prostate cancer cell with an epithelial morphology commonly used in prostate cancer research. The cell line was established from the brain of a 69-year-old male with prostate cancer. They express androgen receptors and are considered tumorigenic with moderate metastatic potential, forming adenocarcinoma (grade II) consistent with prostatic primary when injected into nude mice.
In terms of karyotype, DU145 cells are hypotriploid and have several marker chromosomes, including t(11q12q), del(11)(q23), 16q+, del(9)(p11), del(1)(p32), among others. They express several isoenzymes, including AK-1, ES-D, G6PD, GLO-I, Me-2, PGM1, and PGM3. However, the cells do not express the prostate antigen.
DU145 cells are weakly positive for acid phosphatase and capable of forming colonies in soft agar. The presence of microvilli, tonofilaments, desmosomes, any mitochondria, well-developed Golgi, and heterogenous lysosomes was reported by ultrastructural analyses. DU145 cells have a doubling time of approximately 30-40 hours and are suitable transfection hosts.
DU145 cells are a valuable tool in the therapeutic research of prostate cancer. Along with PC3 and LNCaP cell lines, DU145 is a standard prostate cancer cell line used in medicinal research. Along with PC-3 cells, DU-145 cells express androgen receptor proteins. However, when treated with an androgen ligand, the cells did not show stimulation of the activity of an AR-responsive reporter gene. Therefore, these cells are considered to be androgen non-responsive.