Widely used prostate carcinoma cell lines share common origins

BACKGROUND. Cross-contamination is a persistent problem in the establishmen t and maintenance of mammalian cell lines. The observation that the cell li nes PC-3, ALVA-31, and PPC-1 all have a homozygous deletion of the alpha -c atenin gene prompted us to investigate the uniqueness of these and several other widely used prostate carcinoma cell lines. METHODS. The genetic backgrounds of the putative human prostate cell lines (ALVA-31, ALVA-41, BPH-1, DU 145, JCA-1, LAPC-4, LNCaP, NCl-H660, ND-1, PC- 3, PC-3MM2, PC-346C, PPC-1, and TSU-Pr1) were analyzed by cytogenetics, mut ation analysis, and DNA profiling. RESULTS. Similarities between several groups of cell lines were found. ALVA -31, ALVA-41, PC-3, PC-3MM2, and PPC-1 all have a deletion of a C in codon 138 of the p53 gene and show almost identical DNA profiles. The ND-I cell l ine has two p53 mutations that are identical to the mutations found in DU 1 45. These two cell lines also share a high number of structural chromosomal abnormalities and nearly identical DNA profiles. The cell lines TSU-rrl an d JCA-I share an identical p53 mutation in exon 5 and identical DNA profile s. CONCLUSIONS. Several widely used prostate carcinoma cell lines apparently h ave identities in common. The knowledge that some of these cell lines are d erivatives of one another prompts re-evaluation of previously obtained resu lts. Prostate 47:36-51, 2001. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.