Investigation of cross-contamination among human cell lines used in China.

Increasing attention has been paid to the hazard of cell line cross-contamination. More journals are requiring that cell lines be authenticated prior to manuscript submission. China Center for Type Culture Collection (CCTCC) has authenticated cell lines for publications in the International Journal of Cancer since 2009. Between 2010 and 2016, we authenticated 485 cell lines from 66 Chinese universities and research institutes. Almost 50% of cell lines were misidentified, most were completely replaced by other cell lines (mainly HeLa and its sublines). The number of cell lines we received for authentication increased dramatically after 2013, but the proportion of misidentified cell lines remained elevated (over 50%). We strongly recommend that researchers take authentication of cell lines seriously and routinely perform authentication of the cell lines used in their laboratories. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.