Two cell lines, HYVC and HMVC, were established from cultures of the squamous cell carcinoma removed from the vulva of females of 37 and 46 years old, respectively. These cell lines were very similar in their biological characteristics, such as morphology (polygonal), growth pattern (32-43 hr of population doubling time, 50-25% of plating efficiency), heterotransplantability (1 x 10(7) cells produced squamous cell carcinomas in the nude mice), genetics (75-78 of modal chromosomal number), and producing the tumor markers (SCC and TPA). The HPV-DNA was not detected in either the HYVC or HMVC lines by using L1-PCR methods, however, it was detected in the HYVC using E6/E7-PCR.