Cell Line Authentication: Ensuring The Validity of Research

It has been a year since the ATCC Standards Development Organization (ATCC-SDO) released the consensus standard (ANS-0002) for authentication of human cell lines. Since then, a growing list of organizations and journals have strongly recommended adding cell line authentication as a requirement for funding and/or publication of research findings, and for good reason. Studies have shown that millions of dollars and untold hours of scientific research have been wasted because of previously undetected cell line misidentification and contamination.
The implications of cell line misidentification and contamination are profound in cancer research, where treatments and diagnoses are dependent upon using the proper materials. It has been reported that as much as 36% of known cell lines are contaminated or misidentified. Mycoplasma, a common bacterial contaminant of cell lines, can alter the cell’s metabolism, which can affect experimental results–one reason why some studies’ results cannot be independently verified or replicated.
A simple and affordable test is all it takes to detect cell line misidentification or contamination and assure researchers of their cell line’s identity at key points–at the time of establishment/procurement, after a certain number of passages (or every 6 months in active culture), at the conclusion of a study, and before freezing/storage.
Authenticating cell lines is an important quality assurance measure that should be implemented in a laboratory and used for all cell line research whether the cells were acquired from a cell bank or established in-house. Authentication ensures the research is being conducted on the correct cells, maximizing reliable results, supporting publication efforts, but most importantly, reducing the risk of wasted time and resources.
DDC Medical’s cell line authentication services are an affordable and reliable solution for researchers. Unlike university research laboratories, our laboratory maintains several accreditation’s, which assures researchers of the highest testing quality and stringent laboratory protocols while providing a third party test. Our laboratory is staffed and equipped to handle large testing volumes quickly and efficiently, and we are able to offer volume discounts for large sample sets. For more information about DDC Medical’s cell authentication service, call our Cell Line specialists at 1-888-362-3928.