The DOI matches its Crossref record.
False human hematopoietic cell lines: cross-contaminations and misinterpretations
Abstract
The risk of adventitious contamination and subsequent overgrowth of cell lines by unrelated cells is a potential and often recurring problem where cells are grown and studied. This problem of intraspecies and interspecies cross-contamination among human cell lines has been recognized for over 25 years; incidences of cell cross-contamination between 17 and 35% have been reported. The most useful methods to detect human cell cross-contamination are DNA fingerprinting and cytogenetic analysis, each complementing the other. Using this combination, we found that in total 14.8% of the human hematopoietic cell lines received either from the original investigator (n = 117 cell lines) or from secondary sources (n = 72 cell lines) were cross-contaminated with another hematopoietic cell line and were thus false cell cultures. Another problem relates to the fact that not every cell line established from a patient with a hematopoietic malignancy is a malignant cell line; unintended immortalization of non-malignant B cells by 'passenger' Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) leads to the establishment of B-lymphoblastoid cell lines (termed EBV+ B-LCLs), an event which is much more frequent than the establishment of a 'true' leukemia-lymphoma-myeloma cell line. These EBV+B-LCLs are most often (albeit not always) unrelated to the malignant clone. The misinterpretation of such EBV+ B-LCLs as true malignant hematopoietic cell lines (particularly in research areas investigating B cell-derived neoplasms such…
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“The electrophoretic mobilities of chosen enzymes from a given cell are used to generate a unique gel banding pattern that can generally detect contamination affecting ≥ 5-10% of the culture population [24,31,78,97].”
From The history, landscape, and outlook of human cell line authentication and security (2024) · cites this paper as [24]
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Drexler, H. G. (2001) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012221970-2/50007-3
Self-citationEBV- and HTLV-Positive Cell Lines
Drexler, H. G. (2001) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012221970-2/50004-8
Self-citationDrexler, H. G. (2001) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012221970-2/50386-7
Self-citationFalse and misinterpreted cell lines
(2001) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012221970-2/50453-8
Drexler, H. G. (2001) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012221970-2/50238-2
Self-citationAdditional Hodgkin's Disease Cell Lines
(2001) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012221970-2/50446-0
Additional Immature T-Cell Lines
(2001) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012221970-2/50442-3
Additional Myeloma and Plasma Cell Leukemia Cell Lines
(2001) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012221970-2/50441-1
Additional Erythrocytic-Megakaryocytic Cell Lines
(2001) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012221970-2/50450-2
Drexler, H. G. (2001) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012221970-2/50059-0
Self-citationDavis, J. M. (2021) · Royal Society of Chemistry eBooks · doi:10.1039/9781788017862-00258
Prevention of Misidentification of Cell Lines/Authentication Methods for Cell Lines
Kohara, A. (2025) · Current human cell research and applications · doi:10.1007/978-981-95-0587-6_5
Drexler, H. (2002) · doi:10.1290/1071-2690(2002)038
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Drexler, H., Dirks, W., & MacLeod, R.
- Affiliations
- Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DE)
- Venue
- Leukemia
- Published
- 1999-10-01
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1601-1607
- ISSN
- 0887-6924 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-5551
- OpenAlex
- W2058142453
- Cited by
- 116
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 5.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Leukemia (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in Insects
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Medical Laboratory Technology › Clinical Laboratory Practices and Quality Control
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Viral-associated cancers and disorders
- Keywords
- cell line cross-contamination, hematopoietic cell lines, DNA fingerprinting, cytogenetic analysis, Epstein-Barr virus, B-lymphoblastoid cell lines, karyotype, immunoprofile, multiple myeloma
- MeSH terms
- Cell Line, Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Humans, Karyotyping, DNA Fingerprinting, Cell Culture Techniques, Cell Lineage, Hematologic Neoplasms
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