Abstract
Immortalized cell lines, such as human cancer cell lines, are an indispensable experimental resource for many types of biological and medical research. However, unless the cell line has been authenticated prior to use, interpretation of experimental results may be problematic. The potential problems this may cause are illustrated by studies in which authentication of cell lines has not been carried out. For example, immortalized cell lines may unknowingly be infected with viruses that alter their characteristics. In fact, parainfluenza virus type 5 (PIV5) poses a threat to the use of immortalized cell lines in biological and medical research; PIV5 infection significantly alters cellular physiology associated with the response to interferon. If PIV5 infection is widespread in immortalized cell lines, then a very large number of published studies might have to be re-evaluated. Fortunately, analyses of a large number of immortalized cell lines indicate that PIV5 infection is not widespread.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Chatziandreou N, Stoch N, Young D et al. Relationships and host range of human, canine, simian and porcine isolated of simian virus 5 (parainfluenza virus 5). J Gen Virol 2004; 85: 3007–16.
Young DF, Carlos TS, Haqmaier K, Fan L, Randall RE. AGS and other tissue culture cells can unknowingly be persistently infected with PIV5; a virus that blocks interferon signaling by degrading STAT1. Virology 2007; 365: 238–40.
Andrejeva J, Childs KS, Young DF et al. The V proteins of paramyxovirus bind the IFN-inducible RNA helicase, mda-5, and inhibit its activation of the IFN-beta promoter. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2004; 101: 17264–9.
Childs K, Stock N, Ross C et al. mda-5, but not RIG-I, is a common target for paramyxovirus V proteins. Virology 2007; 359: 190–200.
Gartler SM. Apparent Hela cell contamination of human heteroploid cell lines. Nature 1968; 217: 750–1.
Lavappa KS, Macy ML, Shannon JE. Examination of ATCC stocks for HeLa marker chromosomes in human cell lines. Nature 1976; 259: 211–13.
Stacy GN. Cell contamination leads to inaccurate data: we must take action now. Nature 2000; 403: 356.
Chatterjee R. Cell biology. Cases of mistaken identity. Science 2007; 315: 928–31.
Masters JR, Thomson JA, Daly-Burns B et al. Short tandem repeat profiling provides an international reference standard for human cell lines. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2001; 98: 8012–17.
Yoshino K, Iimura E, Saijo K et al. Essential role for gene profiling analysis in the authentication of human cell lines. Hum Cell 2006; 19: 43–8.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Danjoh, I., Sone, H., Noda, N. et al. Is parainfluenza virus a threatening virus for human cancer cell lines?. Hum Cell 22, 81–84 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-0774.2009.00071.x
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-0774.2009.00071.x