Cell line characterization and authentication.

Research and development involving the use of cell lines require precise knowledge of the purity and species of origin of the cell lines used. This can only be assured by periodic monitoring of cultured cell lines for possible contamination by other cells and for characteristics that authenticate the cell line identity. In the absence of such monitoring, inter- and intraspecies cell line contaminations are likely to occur in the laboratories of unsuspecting investigators and can result in the generation of mistaken conclusions with an attendant loss of investigators' time, effort, and resources. This chapter provides a history and an overview of the methods that have been developed for cell line authentication, the type of information each of these different methods provides, and how synthesis of that information can be used to characterize a cell line and confirm its identity. An effective cell line monitoring strategy is described that involves testing for a combination of genetic markers, including cell membrane species antigens, isoenzymes, chromosomes, and DNA fingerprints, and use of databases for each marker system to compare the results obtained with a test cell culture with results from an extensive panel of previously tested cell lines.