Establishment of primary vestibular schwannoma cultures from neurofibromatosis type-2 patients

Primary cultures were established from vestibular schwannomas of NF2 patien ts. The cultured tumor cells were selectively amplified by growth factor su pplemented medium and characterized by immunocytochemistry. NF2 cDNA was am plified by RT-PCR and mutations were detected by both the non-isotopic RNas e cleavage assay and direct DNA sequencing, no detectable wild-type NF2 tra nscript was found in cDNA from the cultured cells. Distinguishable morpholo gy and growth rate differences have been observed in different passages of the primary cells. The data suggest that a pure schwannoma primary culture can be established and could be very useful in vitro model for further unde rstanding the NF2 gene function in Schwann cells.