Cancer cell line flaws taint research efforts

Sources:  Journal of the National Cancer Institute; BBC Health

A brief preface:  testing of drugs to see if they are effective in treating cancers is first done by researchers in laboratories on “cell-lines” grown in the laboratory.  However while scientists can duplicate cells they still need original cells from human patients to start with.

Following a review of such cell lines it was determined that cells thought to be representative for esophageal adenocarcinoma (a cancer of the esophagus) also contained tumor cells from the lung, bowel and stomach.  Cancer cells in different parts of the body act differently and also respond to drugs and treatment differently.

If enough of these cell lines are contaminated it could mean that the data from a number of studies upon potential new cancer drugs could be invalidated. How widespread is this problem?  more than 100 scientific publications, at least 3 U.S. research grants and 11 U.S. patents along with numerous clinical trials upon patients.

The result? More time to develop new (and needed) cancer drugs that may have shown promise in the laboratory.

~Posted by D.M. Schwadron, Esquire