A8
Gen-Id and the case of mistaken identity
Caroline Pennington, Dylan Edwards
University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, UK
The use of mammalian cell lines is a basic and fundamental tool in cancer research, however the misidentification and contamination of cell cultures remains an unresolved and growing problem in research laboratories worldwide. This issue has recently attracted media attention, the BBC have highlighted how millions of pounds of charity donations and tax payers money are being wasted on worthless research by scientists using unauthenticated cell lines in research.
The misidentification of cell lines was first recognised in the early 1960s but today publications still report on the time and money that is wasted when cell lines turn out to be unrelated to the disease being studied. Indeed investigators have suggested that between 15 and 30% of cell lines may be cross-contaminated or misidentified (Chatterjee, 2007; MacLeod et al, 2008). This can invalidate, or at least cast doubts on the relevance of published research and affect the reputation of the scientific community as a whole. Despite this Buehring et al (2004) report that only about a third of researchers regularly verify their lines for cell identity. This negligence has been highlighted in a recent white paper by Roland Nardone which calls for private funding agencies to require cell line authentication as a condition of an award of grants and contract funds. This call is beginning to be taken seriously; several charities and research councils now state that cell validation is an absolute requirement for all applicants.
To address this problem we have a developed a service to confirm the identity of cells prior to the commencement of experiments. With media attention increasingly focusing on this issue, the development of such a service is timely and cell validation should be a vital stage in cell culture experiments for cancer research.
References
[1] Buehring GC, Eby EA, Eby MJ. 2004 Cell line cross-contamination: how
aware are Mammalian cell culturists of the problem and how to monitor it? In
Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim. Jul-Aug;40(7):211-5.
Chatterjee R.2007 Cell biology. Cases of mistaken identity.Science. Feb
16;315(5814):928-31.
[2] MacLeod RA, Dirks WG, Drexler HG. 2008 One falsehood leads easily to
another.Int J Cancer. May 1;122(9):2165-8.
