Cell Line Contamination and Misidentification

Abstract

Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Versoix, SwitzerlandDear Editors:RE: Cell line contamination and misidentificationIn order to further knowledge in the area of reproductivebiology, endocrinology, and immunology in a meaningfulmanner, researchers should be aware of cell line contaminationand misidentification, which is commonplace [1, 2]. Last yearKorch et al. [3] reported that this is the case for a number ofwidely used endometrial and ovarian cell lines.I, therefore, wish to highlight two issues:1. The American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) Recom-mendations. The ATCC has recently published a Standard forhuman cell line authentication, recommending short tandemrepeat (STR) profiling for authentication of human cell lines toaddress this problem [4].2. The paucity of endometrial epithelial cell lines available.Korch et al. identified EEC1 cells as being Ishikawa cells,MCF-7 cells or a mixture of both; hTERT EEC cells,previously thought to be normal endometrial epithelial cells,as being MCF-7 breast cancer epithelial cells; and HES cells asHeLa cervical cancer cells.It is advisable to alert researchers in training to theimportance of not just authenticating new cell lines uponreceipt but taking all necessary technical precautions in order toprevent cell line contamination as well as evaluating cell linesfor phenotypic or functional traits, which can be altered withdifferentiation and increasing passages [5].Yours sincerely,Geraldine O. Canny Ph.D.REFERENCES