The DOI matches its Crossref record; 103 of the 103 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Cross-Contamination of Cells in Culture
Abstract
Lists are presented of references to all known publications describing cell properties that serve to characterize (i) known strains of HeLa and purported human cell lines indicted as HeLa contaminants, (ii) strains of human cell lines contaminated with human but non-HeLa cells, and (iii) strains of cells contaminated by cells from one or more other species. Frequencies of cell cross-contaminations are cited and references are presented to relatively simple techniques that could serve to detect such contamination.
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In the citing paper
“Cross-contamination between different cell lines is a serious but often neglected problem (Nelson Rees et al., 1981).”
From Guidance document on Good cell and tissue culture practice 2.0 (GCCP 2.0) (2021) · cites this paper as Nelson Rees et al., 1981
In the citing paper
“Despite fifty-five years of attention through reviews, letters, calls to action, surveys, and technical innovations [5][6][7][8], cellular cross-contamination and misidentification persist, with global rates estimated to be between 14% and 46%.”
From The history, landscape, and outlook of human cell line authentication and security (2024) · cites this paper as [7]
In the citing paper
“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 [5]
Citations
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Fogh, J., Wright, W. C., & Loveless, J. D. (1977) · JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute · doi:10.1093/jnci/58.2.209 · Cited by 663
Immunofluorescence and Herpes-Type Virus Particles in the P3HR-1 Burkitt Lymphoma Cell Line
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Masters, J. R. (2002) · Nature Reviews Cancer · doi:10.1038/nrc775 · Cited by 560
Kaur, G., & Dufour, J. M. (2012) · Spermatogenesis · doi:10.4161/spmg.19885 · Cited by 517
Short tandem repeat profiling provides an international reference standard for human cell lines
Masters, J. R., Thomson, J. A., Daly-Burns, B., Reid, Y. A., Dirks, W. G., Packer, P., Toji, L. H., Ohno, T., Tanabe, H., Arlett, C. F., et al. (2001) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.121616198 · Cited by 478
The Costs of using Unauthenticated, Over-Passaged Cell Lines: How Much more Data do we Need?
Hughes, P., Marshall, D., Reid, Y., Parkes, H., & Gelber, C. (2007) · BioTechniques · doi:10.2144/000112598 · Cited by 434
Gao, Y., Nihira, N. T., Bu, X., Chu, C., Zhang, J., Kołodziejczyk, A., Fan, Y., Chan, N. T., Ma, L., Liu, J., et al. (2020) · Nature Cell Biology · doi:10.1038/s41556-020-0562-4 · Cited by 399
Metadata
- Authors
- Nelson-Rees, W. A., Daniels, D. W., & Flandermeyer, R. R.
- Affiliations
- Cell Culture Department, University of California, Berkeley, Naval Biosciences Laboratory, Oakland, California 94625
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1981-04-24
- Volume
- 212
- Issue
- 4493
- Pages
- 446-452
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W1964255717
- Cited by
- 329
- References
- 103
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 0.85
- 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 › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Microbial infections and disease research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Identification and Quantification in Food
- Keywords
- HeLa cells, human cell lines, cell line contamination, contamination detection
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cell Line, Cells, Cultured, Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase, Humans, Isoenzymes, Karyotyping, Phosphoglucomutase, Species Specificity
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