Establishing Chordoma Cell Line Collection

MEDLINE was searched for all references to chordoma cell lines using the search terms “chordoma cell line,” “chordoma cell culture,” and “chordoma AND in vitro,” and each resulting article was read to determine whether it described or reported use of a chordoma cell line. The corresponding authors of these publications were contacted, and a sample of each of their chordoma cell lines was requested, whether published or unpublished. Additionally, other unpublished chordoma cell lines were solicited from attendees of the First (2007) and Second (2008) International Chordoma Workshops and through personal communication (JS) with researchers who have published on chordoma and clinicians at medical centers with a high volume of chordoma cases.
Once received, cells were grown to 90% confluence in 75 cm² tissue culture flasks and passaged according to methods described in their respective publications or as communicated by the creators of the cell lines. The culture media, serum, and substrate used for each cell line are indicated in Table 1. All other lines were grown and passaged using methods and medias as recommended by the providers. Primary human cultures consisted of middle passage MRC-5 (American Type Tissue Culture) derived from human embryonic lung or NHF1, a gift from M. Cordeiro-S`tone, derived from newborn foreskin.