A newly established human osteosarcoma cell line with osteoblastic properties. A human osteosarcoma cell line, HuO9, was established from a tumor that was heterotransplanted into athymic nude mice. Antiserum against nude mouse spleen cells was added to the early passage cultures to eliminate the host fibroblastic cells. The cell line retained a high activity of liver/bone/kidney-type alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and secreted osteocalcin, i.e., bone gamma-carboxyglutamic acid-containing protein (BGP), into the medium. The addition of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) increased the ALP activity as well as the level of BGP secreted into the medium. The ALP of 1,25(OH)2D3-treated cells has the same inhibition characteristics to heat and amino acids as that of untreated cells. Synthetic human parathyroid hormone stimulated the production of intracellular adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) approximately 100-fold within five minutes. However, the stimulation was not observed with a synthetic human thyrocalcitonin. When HuO9 cells were transplanted into the back of a nude mouse, a tumor with an abundant osteoid formation and mineralization was produced. The results indicate that the HuO9 cell line expresses well-differentiated osteoblastic phenotypes. HuO9 is the first established human cell line to produce BGP, and it provides a useful model for the studies of osteoblasts and the regulatory mechanisms of BGP production. 