The need for a worldwide consensus for cell line authentication: Experience implementing a mandatory requirement at the International Journal of Cancer
Open accessAbstract
Cell lines are used in life science research worldwide as biological surrogates. All cell lines are subject to major limitations when used as research tools, including (i) cross-contamination with other cells cultured in the same laboratory environment and (ii) evolution in vitro that renders a given cell line inappropriate as a surrogate for a specific biological hypothesis. There is ample evidence that cross-contamination or phenotypic drift of cells in culture can generate irreproducible or misleading data. A small number of scientific journals-the International Journal of Cancer being at the forefront-and funding agencies have recently moved forward to ask for obligatory cell line authentication data. The history of implementing such rules by the International Journal of Cancer exemplifies the difficulties encountered when installing mandatory quality measures in life sciences.
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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 [4]
The Outcomes section reports that the International Journal of Cancer returned approximately 13% of submissions for cell-line issues in 2011 and 17%–18% in 2012–2013. This supports a rate approaching one fifth, but the paper’s three-year observation period was 2011–2013, not 2018–2021. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredUp to 30% of cell lines may be misidentified, leading to substantial financial losses.
“The prevalence of CCCM is alarmingly high, with estimates suggesting that up to 30% of cell lines may be misidentified, leading to substantial financial losses [2][3][4].”
From The history, landscape, and outlook of human cell line authentication and security (2024) · cites this paper as [4]
The Introduction reports that 14–46% of the most commonly used cell lines worldwide are believed to be incorrectly designated, supporting a high prevalence but not the specific 'up to 30%' estimate or its application to all cell lines. The paper discusses administrative costs of implementing authentication, but the passages do not establish substantial financial losses caused by misidentified cell lines. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredWork based on biology research tainted by CCCM demonstrates the impact of the issue.
“Work based on biology research tainted by CCCM demonstrates the impact of the issue [3,4,100].”
From The history, landscape, and outlook of human cell line authentication and security (2024) · cites this paper as [4]
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Cites
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Guidance Document on Good In Vitro Method Practices (GIVIMP)
OECD (2018) · OECD Series on Testing and Assessment · doi:10.1787/9789264304796-en · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Cell line authentication: a necessity for reproducible biomedical research
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- Authors
- Fusenig, N. E., Capes-Davis, A., Bianchini, F., Sundell, S., & Lichter, P.
- Affiliations
- German Cancer Research Center (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Lichter, Peter
- Venue
- PLOS Biology
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2017-04-17
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e2001438
- ISSN
- 1544-9173 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-7885
- PMC
- PMC5393552
- OpenAlex
- W2607160242
- Cited by
- 66
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 18.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Research Data Management Practices
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Academic Publishing and Open Access
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Viral Infectious Diseases and Gene Expression in Insects
- Keywords
- cell line authentication, cell line cross-contamination, research reproducibility, scholarly publishing policy, research integrity
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cell Line, Cell Biology, Genotype, Humans, Serial Publications, Consensus, Workflow
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