Dear PLoS One Staff, Dear Authors

While gathering information about cell line ECV304 in the literature, I noticed that a number of papers on cell line ECV304 have been published in PLoS One [1-9], with 5 recent publications in the year 2014 [1-5]. In the majority of these papers [1-8], the authors have referred to ECV304 as an endothelial cell line, and thus their experiments have been carried out using ECV304 as a reliable endothelial model system. However, in one paper published in PloS One, the authors referred to ECV304 as a bladder carcinoma cell line [9].
Where does the confusion come from?
ECV304 has been originally established as an immortalized endothelial cell line by Takahashi in 1990 [10]. However, in 1999 the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ) has reported the cross-contamination [11] between the human cell lines ECV304 [10] and T24 [12], a bladder carcinoma cell line. Subsequently, in 1999 the Japanese Collection of Research Bioresources (JCRB) Cell Bank investigated this cross-contamination using cytogenetic analysis and the short tandem repeat (STR) profiles of ECV304 and T24 and verified the cross-contamination [13]. Ever since, the cross-contamination has been successfully confirmed in additional laboratories [14, 15]. Collectively, the “endothelial-like” ECV304 is now widely recognized as a derivative of the T24 bladder carcinoma cell line.

References

1. Cugno M, Marzano AV, Lorini M, Carbonelli V, Tedeschi A (2014) Enhanced tissue factor expression by blood eosinophils from patients with hypereosinophilia: a possible link with thrombosis. PLoS One 9:e111862
2. Kowshik J, Baba AB, Giri H, Deepak Reddy G, Dixit M, Nagini S (2014) Astaxanthin inhibits JAK/STAT-3 signaling to abrogate cell proliferation, invasion and angiogenesis in a hamster model of oral cancer. PLoS One 9:e109114
3. Veronez CL, Nascimento FD, Melo KR, Nader HB, Tersariol IL, Motta G (2014) The involvement of proteoglycans in the human plasma prekallikrein interaction with the cell surface. PLoS One 9:e91280
4. Cai X, Chen Z, Pan X, Xia L, Chen P, Yang Y, Hu H, Zhang J, Li K, Ge J, Yu K, Zhuang J (2014) Inhibition of angiogenesis, fibrosis and thrombosis by tetramethylpyrazine: mechanisms contributing to the SDF-1/CXCR4 axis. PLoS One 9:e88176
5. Novakova I, Subileau EA, Toegel S, Gruber D, Lachmann B, Urban E, Chesne C, Noe CR, Neuhaus W (2014) Transport rankings of non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs across blood-brain barrier in vitro models. PLoS One 9:e86806
6. Shwetank, Date OS, Kim KS, Manjunath R (2013) Infection of human endothelial cells by Japanese encephalitis virus: increased expression and release of soluble HLA-E. PLoS One 8:e79197
7. Wurster T, Pölzelbauer C, Schönberger T, Paul A, Seizer P, Stellos K, Schuster A, Botnar RM, Gawaz M, Bigalke B (2012) Green fluorescent protein (GFP) color reporter gene visualizes parvovirus B19 non-structural segment 1 (NS1) transfected endothelial modification. PLoS One 7:e33602
8. Manente AG, Pinton G, Tavian D, Lopez-Rodas G, Brunelli E, Moro L (2011) Coordinated sumoylation and ubiquitination modulate EGF induced EGR1 expression and stability. PLoS One 6:e25676
9. Ren X, Xu J, Cooper JP, Kang MH, Erdreich-Epstein A (2012) c-Abl is an upstream regulator of acid sphingomyelinase in apoptosis induced by inhibition of integrins αvβ3 and αvβ5. PLoS One 7:e42291
10. Takahashi K, Sawasaki Y, Hata J, Mukai K, Goto T (1990) Spontaneous transformation and immortalization of human endothelial cells. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol 3:265-274
11. Dirks WG, MacLeod RA, Drexler HG (1999) ECV304 (endothelial) is really T24 (bladder carcinoma): cell line cross- contamination at source. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim 35:558-559
12. Bubenik J, Baresova M, Viklicky V, Jakoubkova J, Sainerova H, Donner J (1973) Established cell line of urinary bladder carcinoma (T24) containing tumour specific antigen. Int J Cancer 11:765-773
13. Tanabe H, Takada Y, Minegishi D, Kurematsu M, Masui T, Mizsawa H (1999) Cell line individualization by STR multiplex system in the cell bank found cross-contamination between ECV304 and EJ-1/T24. Tiss Cult Res Commun 18:329-338
14. Suda K, Rothen-Rutishauser B, Günthert M, Wunderli-Allenspach HP (2001) Phenotypic characterization of human umbilical vein endothelial (ECV304) and urinary carcinoma (T24) cells: endothelial versus epithelial features. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim 37:505-514
15. Brown J, Reading SJ, Jones S, Fitchett CJ, Howl J, Martin A, Longland CL, Michelangeli F, Dubrova YE, Brown CA (2000) Critical evaluation of ECV304 as a human endothelial cell model defined by genetic analysis and functional responses: a comparison with the human bladder cancer derived epithelial cell line T24/83. Lab Invest 80:37-45