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Problems associated with cell culture are frequently ignored by the biomedical community, both in academic research and in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. With depressing regularity, scientific data have to be retracted or modified because of cross-contamination between cell lines. Occult contamination with microorganisms (especially mycoplasma) and phenotypic drift due to serial transfer between laboratories are frequently encountered. Whatever the nature of the cell culture operation, large or small, academic or commercial, such problems can occur. The aim of these guidelines is to highlight these problems and provide recommendations as to how they may be identified, avoided or where possible eliminated.
The guidelines are meant to provide a series of pertinent and accessible reminders, which should be of benefit both to those for whom using cell lines is a new skill and those who may, despite years of experience, have allowed suboptimal procedures to become part of local practice. The guidelines are not meant to substitute for the many excellent textbooks which provide detailed information on many aspects of cell culture techniques and procedures.
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Animals with local or disseminated tumours are likely to experience pain and/or distress, thus justifying special care and attention from both licensees and others involved in their welfare. Associated techniques including surgical preparation, irradiation, and drug administration may increase the severity of an experimental procedure. Recognising this, the United Kingdom Coordinating Committee on Cancer Research (UKCCCR) in 1988 set up an ad hoc committee to develop guidelines for research workers using animals in experimental neoplasia. The UKCCCR (for membership see below*) is charged by the major bodies involved in the funding of cancer research in the UK with the co-ordination and development of areas in which they have a common interest. The members of the ad hoc committee were selected so as to represent a wide range of specialities which make use of animal tumour models in cancer research together with experts in animal husbandry and welfare and an observer from the Home Office Inspectorate. Feedback on the 1988 UKCCCR guidelines has indicated that these were well received and have been widely used in the UK, as well as having an influence overseas. It was explicitly stated in the 1988 guidelines that procedures practised upon animals in cancer research, and in particular that humane endpoints used, should be subject to a continuous process of refinement. Indeed the 'Three Rs', that is redu ction (in numbers), refinement (of methods) and replacement (of animals by other techniques where appropriate) should constantly be borne in mind by all users of experimental animals (Russell and Burch, 1959; Roush, 1966; Balls, 1994; Festing, 1994; Flecknell, 1994). Both science and attitudes to animal work change. Accordingly, it was envisaged in the 1988 guidelines that these would be modified and updated as necessary. The present edition contains a number of changes and will again be modified in the future should this be necessary. To aid this process, feedback on the guidelines is actively encouraged.
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