Human cancer cell lines: fact and fantasy.
Cancer cell lines are used in many biomedical research laboratories. Why, then, are they often described as unrepresentative of the cells from which they were derived? Here, I argue that they have been unjustly accused. Under the right conditions, and with appropriate controls, properly authenticated cancer cell lines retain the properties of the cancers of origin.
Institute of Urology, University College London, 67 Riding House Street, London W1W 7EY, UK. j.masters@ucl.ac.uk
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D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D009174:Mycoplasma / Q000378:metabolism; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D010641:Phenotype; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured