Tumor colony formation from human spontaneous tumors in a methylcellulose monolayer system.

A methylcellulose monolayer system is described that facilitates the "in vitro" cultures of human spontaneous tumor cells. The tumor samples were disaggregated mechanically and cultured in 0.9% methylcellulose with 30% fetal calf serum in Iscove's modified Dulbecco's medium. Eighty-five individual tumor samples with different histological types were seeded, 45 gave rise to tumor cell colonies. The plating efficiency ranged from 0.02% to 0.22%. Cytologic and cytochemical staining from aspirated cells revealed the same morphology of cells as the cells in the suspension. A flattening of colonies, as it has been described by others using methylcellulose monolayer, was not observed.