Authentication of Human and Mouse Cell Lines by Short Tandem Repeat (STR) DNA Genotype Analysis

Excerpt

The earliest mammalian cell lines, established by Earle et al. in 1943, were derived from the subcutaneous tissue of a C3H mouse strain and many cell lines still used today were derived from the L strain in those early studies [31]. Several years later, HeLa, the first human cell line was established and since then there has been an increase in the use of human and mouse cell lines as models for cell biology, genetics, diseases such as cancer, for the production of viruses and vaccine development, and as tools for synthesizing recombinant proteins for use as therapeutics. Unfortunately, this accelerated use of cell lines and the lack of best practices in tissue culture have led to increases in cellular cross-contamination, which has resulted in spurious results. Now the simple molecular genotyping technique Short Tandem Repeat (STR) DNA genotyping of human and mouse cell lines is available. If applied routinely in cell culture management this technique, in combination with others, can greatly improve the detection of cellular cross-contamination resulting in more reproducible and meaningful research.

This Assay Guidance Manual (AGM) chapter is an extensive update of the 2013 version entitled Authentication of Human Cell Lines by STR DNA Profiling Analysis by Yvonne Reid, Douglas Storts, Terry Riss, and Lisa Minor [68]. This new document is targeted primarily at researchers who will need to interpret STR genotyping data generated in their laboratory or received from a core facility or commercial testing laboratory for the authentication of mouse and human cell lines. These testing facilities should consult the ANSI-ATCC ASN-0002 revised in 2021 for more detailed guidelines for evaluation and interpretation of STR data [49].