Metaphase harvest and cytogenetic analysis of solid tumor cultures

Cytogenetic preparations of solid tumor specimens often demonstrate clonal chromosome aberrations. These clonal aberrations are useful in confirming the neoplastic nature of a given tumor and might also suggest a specific diagnosis or prognosis. Most solid tumors must be cultured for several days before metaphase cells can be obtained for cytogenetic analysis. The describes harvesting of metaphase cells from cultures prepared from solid tumor specimens. The cells are fixed and then stained using a trypsin-Giemsa (GTG) method to produce characteristic banding patterns for cytogenetic analysis. The first describes disaggregation and short-term tissue culture of solid tumors. The second describes analysis of cells from lymph nodes infiltrated by lymphoma cells and the third describes the direct analysis of cells from malignant effusion (fluid) samples.