Cytogenetic harvesting of commonly used tumor cell lines

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.