Detection of Viral Proteins in Human Cells Lines by Xeno-Proteomics: Elimination of the Last Valid Excuse for Not Testing Every Cellular Proteome Dataset for Viral Proteins

Chernobrovkin, Alexey L.; Zubarev, Roman A.

One of the main motivations for working with cell lines is their supposedly identical behavior in different labs, provided the experimental conditions are similar or identical. This presumed reliable behavior is critical for reproducibility of scientific experiments, which is the backbone of the scientific method. During the recent survey it has been found that a substantial part of cancer papers were irreproducible [4] . One of the known issues leading to irreproducible results is the cell line contamination. Ten years ago, the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ) found that 18% of 252 submitted cell lines were cross-contaminated with more than half of the contamination sources located within only six laboratories. Subsequent testing performed by DSMZ with extended number of cell lines showed that of 598 leukemia-lymphoma cell lines, 187 (31%) were contaminated with mycoplasma and/or a second cell line, with 38 (6%) of cell lines contaminated with both [5] .