Characterization of cultured human tumor cell lines by flow cytometry DNA stemline.

The DNA stemlines for 12 human tumor cell lines were determined by flow cytometry, and the determinations were compared with other methods available for characterizing cultured cells. In four of ten cases where karyotyping had been done, there was a reasonably good correlation between DNA and karyotype stemlines, but in six cases they differed. Two distinct stemlines were present in two cases. The measurements by flow cytometry can be carried out rapidly and easily and may be useful indicators of extraneous cell contamination or a special clone-derived cell population that has developed during culture passage. In addition, information is provided on the cell cycle distribution. It is proposed that flow cytometry determinations of the DNA stemline be used to help characterize cultured cell lines and to ensure their identity.