Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Reproducibility: changing the policies and culture of cell line authentication

Quality control of cell lines used in biomedical research is essential to ensure reproducibility. Although cell line authentication has been widely recommended for many years, misidentification, including cross-contamination, remains a serious problem. We outline a multi-stakeholder, incremental approach and policy-related recommendations to facilitate change in the culture of cell line authentication.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Begley, C.G. Nature 497, 433–434 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Collins, F.S. & Tabak, L.A. Nature 505, 612–613 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Gómez, O.S., Juristo, N. & Vegas, S. in Proc. Int. Workshop Replication Empir. Softw. Eng. Res. (RESER, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Stern, A.M., Casadevall, A., Steen, R.G. & Fang, F.C. eLife 3, e02956 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Freedman, L.P. & Inglese, J. Cancer Res. 74, 4024–4029 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Health Advances & Feinstein Kean Healthcare. The case for standards in life science research: seizing opportunities at a time of critical need. http://www.gbsi.org/publications/the-case-for-standards (Global Biological Standards Institute, Washington, DC, 2013).

  7. Lorsch, J.R., Collins, F.S. & Lippincott-Schwartz, J. Science 346, 1452–1453 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Perkel, J.M. Biotechniques 51, 85–90 (2011).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Lichter, P. et al. Int. J. Cancer 126, 1 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Masters, J.R. & Stacey, G.N. Nat. Protoc. 2, 2276–2284 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Reid, Y.A. Methods Mol. Biol. 731, 35–43 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. ATCC/SDO. ASN-0002: authentication of human cell lines: standardization of STR profiling. (ATCC-Standards Development Organization (SDO), Manassas, Virginia, USA, 2012).

  13. Anonymous. Nature 496, 398 (2013).

  14. Schweppe, R.E. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 98, 956–957 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Kuo, S.H. et al. Genes Chromosom. Cancer 53, 211–213 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Nims, R.W., Sykes, G., Cottrill, K., Ikonomi, P. & Elmore, E. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. Anim. 46, 811–819 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Rottem, S., Kosower, N.S. & Kornspan, J.D. in Biomedical Tissue Culture (eds. Ceccherini-Nelli, L. & Matteoli, B.) (Intech, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Olarerin-George, A.O. & Hogenesch, J.B. Nucleic Acids Res. 11, 2535–2542 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Hughes, P., Marshall, D., Reid, Y., Parkes, H. & Gelber, C. Biotechniques 43, 575–586 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Vasilevsky, N.A. et al. PeerJ 1, e148 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. OECD. OECD best practice guidelines for biological resource centres. http://www.oecd.org/sti/biotech/38777417.pdf (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris, 2007).

  22. Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research, NCI. NCI best practices for biospecimen resources. (National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland, USA, 2011).

  23. Geraghty, R.J. et al. Br. J. Cancer 111, 1021–1046 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Wrigley, J.D. et al. Drug Discov. Today 19, 1518–1529 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Buehring, G.C., Eby, E.A. & Eby, M.J. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. Anim. 40, 211–215 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Anonymous. Nat. Cell Biol. 16, 385 (2014).

  27. Kniss, D.A. & Summerfield, T.L. Reprod. Sci. 21, 1015–1019 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Chambers, A.F. Cancer Res. 69, 5292–5293 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Liscovitch, M. & Ravid, D. Cancer Lett. 245, 350–352 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Demichelis, F. et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 36, 2446–2456 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Sanchez, J.J. et al. Electrophoresis 27, 1713–1724 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Castro, F. et al. Int. J. Cancer 132, 308–314 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Reid, Y., Storts, D., Riss, T. & Minor, L. in Assay Guidance Manual [Internet] (eds. Sittampalam, G.S. et al.) (Eli Lilly & Company and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

  34. Almeida, J.L., Hill, C.R. & Cole, K.D. Cytotechnology 66, 133–147 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Nims, R.W., Shoemaker, A.P., Bauernschub, M.A., Rec, L.J. & Harbell, J.W. In Vitro Cell. Dev. Biol. Anim. 34, 35–39 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Matsumura, T. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 129, 31–38 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Semple, T.U., Quinn, L.A., Woods, L.K. & Moore, G.E. Cancer Res. 38, 1345–1355 (1978).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Hartshorne, J.K. & Schachner, A. Front. Comput. Neurosci. 6, 8 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Drexler, H.G., Dirks, W.G., Matsuo, Y. & MacLeod, R.A. Leukemia 17, 416–426 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Korch, C. et al. Gynecol. Oncol. 127, 241–248 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Phuchareon, J., Ohta, Y., Woo, J.M., Eisele, D.W. & Tetsu, O. PLoS ONE 4, e6040 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Schweppe, R.E. et al. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 93, 4331–4341 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Zhao, M. et al. Clin. Cancer Res. 17, 7248–7264 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Boonstra, J.J. et al. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 102, 271–274 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Mathieson, W., Kirkland, S., Leonard, R. & Thomas, G.A. J. Cell. Biochem. 112, 2170–2178 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Briske-Anderson, M.J., Finley, J.W. & Newman, S.M. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 214, 248–257 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Yamashita, S. et al. Pharm. Res. 14, 486–491 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Stacey, G.N. & Masters, J.R. Nat. Protoc. 3, 1981–1989 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Global Biological Standards Institute staff for support during the preparation of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leonard P Freedman.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Freedman, L., Gibson, M., Ethier, S. et al. Reproducibility: changing the policies and culture of cell line authentication. Nat Methods 12, 493–497 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.3403

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.3403

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Cancer

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Cancer