Advantages and limitations of primary and passaged cell cultures

Cell typeAdvantagesDisadvantages
Primary tumor cell culture-Reflection of molecular characteristics of tumor cells [59];
-Clinically significant for personalized therapy [4];
-Suitable for genetic manipulations and molecular studies specific to cancer cells of a particular patient [21].		-Need for complex nutrient environments [23];
-Probability of outgrowing of cancer cells by stromal components at early cavitation stages [46];
-Tumor heterogeneity may be lost depending on the cultivation method [5];
-Generation efficiency depends on the type and source of the biopsy [59].
Passaged tumor cell culture-To maintain viability, standard and uncomplicated methods along with simple nutrient media can be used [47];
-Provides a large number of cells useful for comparative studies [46];
-Suitable for genetic manipulations and molecular studies specific to cancer cells [48–50];
-Lower cost [57].		-Genetic and phenotypic changes associated with the increased number of passages [27];
-Low similarity to therapeutic effects in clinical drug screening [54, 55];
-Lack of personalization [52].