Three continuous lines of mammary tumor cells (ZR-75-1, ZR-75-27, and ZR-75-30) have been established from malignant effusions of two women with breast cancer. Differentiated properties expressed by each cell line include: (a) epithelial morphology (by light and electron microscopy) resembling that of the parental tumors; (b) presence of receptors for estrogen and other steroid hormones; and (c) growth responsiveness to estrogen and/or progesterone. All three cell lines possess human karyotypes that differ from one another in modal chromosome number as well as in characteristic marker chromosomes. Two of the cultures (ZR-75-27 and ZR-75-30), although derived from the same patient, have stable differences in their karyotypes.