This web page lists suppliers providing cell lines. Cellosaurus, a compilation of cell lines from Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Geneva, Switzerland, lists 96820 human, 21791 mouse, 2444 rat cell lines in version 38 (May 2021) [1]. One very important consideration before starting any work on a particular cell line is to ensure that the cell line is authentic [2], although a majority of researchers appear to ignore this issue (as revealed by a survey conducted in mid-2015) [3]. American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) provide a documentary standard (ASN-0002) for human cell lines using short tandem repeats (STR) "Authentication of Human Cell Lines: Standardization of STR Profiling" [4]. International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC) maintains a list of 487 misidentified cell lines (as of March 2020) that should be avoided [2, 5]. Organizations such as CellBank Australia [6] or local core facilities [7] can perform cell line authentication. It is estimated that at least 32,755 articles reported on research with the misidentified cells and these articles in turn have been cited by half a million papers [8]. Misidentified cell lines are still being reported, occasionally, with the cognizance of the authors [9]. This ICLAC list should be consulted. Even cell lines maintained at ATCC might not be authentic, as in the case of E006AA or widely used glioma cell line U87MG [10]. Therefore, it is advisable to authenticate a cell line prior to any experimentation. In addition, the same cell line undergoes genetic diversification and yields very different drug responses [11] or other changes to yield different STR profiles and tumorigenicity, as in the case of LAPC4 cells [12], or, in the case of Hela, produces different multi-omic profiles among stock lines and through cell passages [13]. In addition, cultured cells should be regularly checked for mycoplasm contamination, by using, for example, LookOut Mycoplasma PCR Detection Kit [14] or Venor GeM mycoplasma detection kit [15] from Sigma, MycoAlert Mycoplasma Detection kit from Lonza [16, 17], or TransDetect PCR Mycoplasma Detection Kit from Transgen Biotech (FM311-01) [18]. Mycoplasma can introduce artificial results, for example, N6-methyladenine in mammalian cell lines [19].
ATCC is the major source of cell lines. For example, EX Han et al transfected human dermal fibroblasts from ATCC to investigate the utility of vascular conduits in cell therapies [20]. Frottin F et al obtained both HEK293T and HeLa cells from ATCC for their experiments about nucleolus as a phase-separated protein quality control entity [21]. There are also specialized organizations for unique organisms or cell types. For example, Winkler MBL et al obtained yeast strain BY4741 from Euroscarf culture collection, Scientific Research and Development GmbH [22]. Patzke C et al purchased male human embryonic stem cell line H1 from WiCell Research Resources, a nonprofit organization established in 1999 by the University of Wisconsin–Madison to advance the science of stem cells [23]. Other suppliers include Lonza [24], MilliporeSigma [17], University of California, Berkeley Cell Culture Facility [25], Cell Biologics [26], CH3 BioSystems [27], Riken Bioresource Center [28], Korea Cell Line Bank [29] and EBiSC (European Bank For Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells) [30].
The list is compiled from a systematic manual survey conducted by Labome covering over 60000 randomly selected publications (read how Labome selects the articles). This list includes suppliers whose products have been cited in at least one publications. Up to five most cited products for each supplier are displayed. Therefore, this list provides a comprehensive representation of high-quality suppliers in this product category. A small number of high-quality suppliers without any citation may also be included; they are not accompanied by any citation data. As the Labome survey is ongoing, this list is updated regularly to reflect the most recent data. Please note: a few companies have been purchased by or merged with other companies, they remain on the list if their brands are maintained by the new entities, such as Life Technologies, Sigma-Aldrich.
81 Wyman Street
Waltham, MA USA 02451
51429 Bergisch Gladbach
Carpinteria, CA 93013
Billerica, Massachusetts 01821
San Diego, CA 92126
- Bairoch A. The Cellosaurus: a cell line knowledge resource. Available from: web.expasy.org/cellosaurus/
- NCBI BioSample Known Misidentified Cell Lines. Available from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/biosample?term=misidentified+cell+line
- Materials and Methods [ISSN : 2329-5139] is a unique online journal with regularly updated review articles on laboratory materials and methods. If you are interested in contributing a manuscript or suggesting a topic, please leave us feedback.
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