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Cytogenetic harvesting of commonly used tumor cell lines

Nature Protocols volume 2, pages 372–382 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Tumor cell lines are widely used both as disease models and, increasingly, as genomic resources for the ascertainment of new cancer genes. Cytogenetic analysis remains a major route to uncovering the cancer genome. However, cancer cell lines vary inexplicably in their harvesting preferences, which must, therefore, be determined by trial and error. This article describes harvesting protocols optimized empirically for 550 commonly used, mainly human, cancer cell lines together with evidence-based procedures to assist in determining conditions for unlisted cell lines and subsidiary protocols for cytogenetic analysis using G-banding and fluorescence in situ hybridization.

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Figure 1: Morphology.
Figure 2: Spreading.
Figure 3: Authentication.
Figure 4: Characterization.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. DSMZ—German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig, Germany

    Roderick A F MacLeod, Maren Kaufmann & Hans G Drexler

Authors
  1. Roderick A F MacLeod
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  2. Maren Kaufmann
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  3. Hans G Drexler
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roderick A F MacLeod.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

Optimal hypotonic treatments for individual cell lines (PDF 423 kb)

Supplementary Table 2

Evidence based assessment of harvesting (PDF 62 kb)

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MacLeod, R., Kaufmann, M. & Drexler, H. Cytogenetic harvesting of commonly used tumor cell lines. Nat Protoc 2, 372–382 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2007.29

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