Assessment of methods for primary tissue culture of human breast epithelia

A serie of 29 human normal, benign and malignant breast tissues were cultivated in an attempt to isolate and propagate primary breast epithelial cells in vitro. Explants methodology as well as disaggregation techniques (enzymatic and mechanical) were employed to obtain better culture conditions. Cells derived from breast malignant tissue were propagated in an appropriate and survived in culture for at least 6 months, exhibiting a marked preference to grow in suspension (independent anchorage). Tumorigenicity assays in nude mice were performed with malignant cells obtained from primary culture cells as well as with cells achieved from successive passages. The rate of long time cell survival from malignant and non-malignant tissues demonstrated the accuracy of the methodology but it also emphasised the need for improving technology to obtain cell lines with long survival.