Question: How do you grow the different types of cancer cells?

Adam Paige answered on 19 Nov 2012:

You can take a tumour that was taken from a patient during their surgery (with their permission) and treat the cells with a chemical that helps to split them up so they are not stuck in a lump any more. You put those cells into a plastic flask and add media (a solution of chemicals that provides nutrients, food and growth factors to the cells). You then grow the cells in an incubator at 37oC (body temperature) in an atmosphere that has 5% carbon dioxide (similar to the condition the cells might experience in our bodies).

Some tumours (but not all – some will just die when you try this) will start to grow in the flask. THe cancer cells will probably stick to the bottom of the flask and start to divide to produce more cells. These will spread out across the flask, dividing more and more until the whole bottom of the flask is covered in cells. You can then use a chemical called trypsin to cut the cells off the plastic, and you could then move some of the cells into another flask which will give them space to grow again. They will start to stick to the plastic once more and begin dividing again.

Every time they fill the flask you can use trypsin to take them out of the flask and move some of them to a new flask. And then you have a permanent cancer cell line which can be grown in the lab forever. Some of the ones I use were created in the 1960s and 1970s and have been grown in labs since then (meaning that some of my cancer cell lines are older than me!)