Cell type or Cell line? - (Jan/10/2006 )

Hello everyone!

Can someone tell me exactly what is the diference between Cell type and Cell line. It´s rather confusing.

It depends. If you're looking at a cell line book, like the Leukemia Lymphoma Cell Line Factsbook, Cell type generally means what type of cell it is closest too (since it's not going to be growing if it is a normal cell) if it says, oh, human B-cell, it's basically a mutant human B-cell.
Cell Line, on the other hand, is going to usually be named by or for the person who developed it, so that "cell line" is basically a name.... "Granta 519" and "Karpas 1106" don't tell you ANYTHING about the cell...just what its lineage is-who developed it (immortalized it, etc) or what the lab was (RPMI, anyone?)

The problem is that "cell type" is a largely meaningless term. It's going to vary depending on what you are reading, and yup, sometimes it's going to be a synonym for cell line. My boss likes to use cell type to mean what disease a line was derived from....

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LabGrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl, RoswellPark