HeLa Cultures Defined
Abstract
A list is presented of references to all known publications on properties which have served to relate strains of HeLa cells to each other as well as to indict other purported human cell lines as HeLa cell contaminants. Eleven additional cell lines not previously indicted are described. When they exhibit (i) type A (fast) mobility for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, (ii) phosphoglucomutase type 1 at locus 1 and locus 3, (iii) absence of a Y chromosome by fluorescent staining, and (iv) possession of a complex of trypsin-Giemsa banded marker chromosomes present in known HeLa cells, then cell substrates regardless of designation should be considered de facto strains of HeLa.
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The problems with cell line misidentification have been known for decades, commencing with the controversies around HeLa cells in the 1960s.
“The problems with cell line misidentification [5] have been known for decades, commencing with the controversies around HeLa cells in the 1960s [6–10].”
From The ghosts of HeLa: How cell line misidentification contaminates the scientific literature (2017) · cites this paper as [7]
Nelson-Rees discovered that HeLa cells had already contaminated over 40 supposedly "unique" cultures, including KB, Chang liver, HEp-2, HBT3, and Intestine 407.
“He discovered, through analyzing type A mobility for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and the lack of a Y chromosome, that HeLa cells had already contaminated over 40 supposedly “unique” cultures, including those labeled KB (CVCL_0372), Chang liver (CVCL_0238), HEp-2 (CVCL_1906), HBT3 (CVCL_D281), and Intestine 407 (INT407, CVCL_1907) [4,5].”
From Genetic Insights into the Economic Toll of Cell Line Misidentification: A Comprehensive Review (2026) · cites this paper as [4]
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Cross-contamination of cells in culture
Nelson-Rees, W. A., Daniels, D. W., & Flandermeyer, R. R. (1981) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.6451928 · Cited by 329 · see citing works
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Horbach, S. P. J. M., & Halffman, W. (2017) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0186281 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
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Kniss, D. A., Xie, Y., Li, Y., Kumar, S., Linton, E. A., Cohen, P., Fan-Havard, P., Redman, C. W. G., & Sargent, I. L. (2002) · Placenta · doi:10.1053/plac.2001.0749 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
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Korch, C. T., & Capes-Davis, A. (2021) · SLAS Discovery · doi:10.1177/24725552211051963 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Gu, M., Yang, M., He, J., Xia, S., Zhang, Z., Wang, Y., Zheng, C., & Shen, C. (2022) · International Journal of Cancer · doi:10.1002/ijc.33789 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
DNA fingerprinting of human cell lines using PCR amplification of fragment length polymorphisms
Yan, R., Ottenbreit, M., Hukku, B., Mally, M., Chou, S., & Kaplan, J. (1996) · In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Animal · doi:10.1007/bf02724050 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Genetic Insights into the Economic Toll of Cell Line Misidentification: A Comprehensive Review
Weiskirchen, R. (2026) · Medical Sciences · doi:10.3390/medsci14010025 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Nelson-Rees, W. A., & Flandermeyer, R. R.
- Affiliations
- Cell Culture Laboratory, University of California, Naval Biomedical Research Laboratory, Oakland 94625
- University of California System (US)
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1976-01-09
- Volume
- 191
- Issue
- 4222
- Pages
- 96-98
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W1979024093
- Cited by
- 224
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 5 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 9.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in Insects
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genomic variations and chromosomal abnormalities
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
- Keywords
- HeLa cells, cell line contamination, cell line identification, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphoglucomutase, human cell lines
- MeSH terms
- Cell Line, Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase, HeLa Cells, Karyotyping, Phosphoglucomutase, Sex Chromosomes
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