False and mycoplasma-contaminated leukemia-lymphoma cell lines: time for a reappraisal
Open accessAbstract
Leukemia–lymphoma cell lines are important research tools in a variety of fields. To represent adequate model systems it is of utmost importance that cell lines faithfully model the primary tumor material and are not cross‐contaminated with unrelated cell material (or contaminated with mycoplasma). As it has been previously reported that cross‐contaminated cell lines represent a significant problem, it is of interest to know whether any improvement in the prevalence of such “false cell lines” had occurred since we called the alert in 1999. A retrospective review of our data archives covered 848 cell lines received from 1990 to 2014 from 290 laboratories in 23 countries spanning the spectrum of leukemia–lymphoma entities. Two variables were considered: authenticity and freedom from mycoplasma infection. Regarding provenance, we separately considered primary sources (original investigators having established the cell lines or reference repositories) and secondary sources. The percentages of mycoplasma‐contaminated cell lines decreased significantly over the 25‐year timespan. Among primary sourced material: mycoplasma‐contamination fell from 23% to 0%; among secondary sourced: from 48% to 21%. The corresponding figures for cross‐contamination declined from 15% to 6%, while among material obtained from secondary sources prevalence remained remarkably high, throughout the time periods at 14–18%. Taken together, our data indicate that using non‐authenticated cell lines from secondary sources carries a risk of about 1:6 for obtaining a false cell line. The use of authentic leukemia–lymphoma cell lines holds important translational value for their model character and the reproducibility of the laboratory data in the clinical arena.
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The International Journal of Cancer observed cell line problems in approximately one fifth of submitted manuscripts over the three-year period from 2018 to 2021.
“The International Journal of Cancer (”
From The history, landscape, and outlook of human cell line authentication and security (2024) · cites this paper as [9]
The Introduction (p. 1209–1210) says the study examined 848 leukemia-lymphoma cell lines received between 1990 and 2014, not manuscripts submitted to the International Journal of Cancer between 2018 and 2021. The Discussion (p. 1213) estimates that about one in six circulating cell-line cultures were cross-contaminated; that figure does not describe a share of submitted manuscripts. (LLM, conf=0.89)
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSwift actions against mycoplasma led to a significant reduction in primary cell line contamination and secondary contamination.
“These swift actions led to a significant reduction in primary cell line contamination and secondary contamination [9,14].”
From The history, landscape, and outlook of human cell line authentication and security (2024) · cites this paper as [9]
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- Authors
- Drexler, H. G., Dirks, W. G., MacLeod, R. A. F., & Uphoff, C. C.
- Affiliations
- Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Drexler, Hans G.
- Venue
- International Journal of Cancer
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-01-18
- Volume
- 140
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1209-1214
- ISSN
- 0020-7136 (ISSN-L)
- 1097-0215
- OpenAlex
- W2554648560
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 4.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Cancer (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Microbial infections and disease research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Clinical Laboratory Practices and Quality Control
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in Insects
- Keywords
- leukemia-lymphoma cell lines, mycoplasma contamination, cross-contamination, cell line authentication
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Karyotyping, Leukemia, Lymphoma, Mycoplasma, Retrospective Studies, DNA Fingerprinting, In Situ Hybridization, Cell Line, Tumor
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