Experimental Approaches to Generate and Isolate Human Tetraploid Cells

Cancer cells are frequently affected by large-scale chromosome copy number changes, such as polyploidy or whole chromosome aneuploidy, and thus understanding the consequences of these changes is important for cancer research. In the past, it has been difficult to study the consequences of large-scale genomic changes, especially in pure isogenic populations. Here, we describe two methods to generate tetraploid cells induced either by cytokinesis failure or mitotic slippage. These treatments result in mixed population of diploids and tetraploids that can be analyzed directly. Alternatively, tetraploid populations can be established by single cell clone selection or by fluorescence activated cell sorting. These methods enable to analyze and compare the consequences of whole-genome doubling between the parental cell line, freshly arising tetraploid cells, and post-tetraploid aneuploid clones.