HeLa cells 50 years on: the good, the bad and the ugly

Masters, John R.

doi:10.1038/nrc775

Cited by 565Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in InsectsBiomedical Ethics and RegulationAnimal testing and alternatives

HeLa cells 50 years on: the good, the bad and the ugly

Masters, John R.·2002·Nature Reviews Cancer

DOI 10.1038/nrc775

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HeLa and its derivatives HeLa S3, AV3 and WISH contaminations are notorious problems and may be simply detected by either isoenzyme or STR profiling.
“HeLa [16] and its derivatives HeLa S3, AV3 [17] and WISH contaminations are notorious problems and may be simply detected by either isoenzyme [18] or STR profiling [19].”
From Investigation of Cross-Contamination and Misidentification of 278 Widely Used Tumor Cell Lines (2017) · cites this paper as [17]
HeLa cells have been a notorious contaminant of cell culture work for decades.
“Dubbed by some”
From The history, landscape, and outlook of human cell line authentication and security (2024) · cites this paper as [53]

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Authors: Masters, J. R.
Affiliations: University College London (GB)
Corresponding author: Masters, John R.
Venue: Nature Reviews Cancer
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published: 2002-04
Volume: 2
Issue: 4
Pages: 315-319
ISSN: 1474-175X (ISSN-L)
1474-1768
DOI: 10.1038/nrc775
OpenAlex: W2070468167
Cited by: 560
References: 49
Citations by year: 2026: 28 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 18
FWCI: 0.46
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations: Nature reviews. Cancer (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Topics: Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in Insects
Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Biomedical Ethics and Regulation
Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal testing and alternatives
Keywords: HeLa cells, human cancer cell lines, cervical cancer, immortalized cell lines, scientific fraud, cell line authentication, history of cancer research
MeSH terms: Cytogenetics, Female, HeLa Cells, Humans, Research Design, Time Factors, Tumor Cells, Cultured

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