Culturing mouse tumor cells

Genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) are attractive for the study of cancer; however, they can be time-consuming and expensive to produce and maintain. Thus, in certain contexts, the use of in vitro culture systems of tumor cells may provide an efficient and effective means to test hypotheses before assessment in or to complement discoveries in GEMMs. This introduction will briefly review the issues pertaining to in vitro analyses of primary cancer cells and highlight several "best practice" protocols that can be used when working with diverse types of carcinomas.