BBC NEWS | Programmes | File on 4 | How cancer studies wasted cash 1/4 ページ Home News Sport Radio TV Weather Languages nmlkji UK version nmlkj International version | About the versions Low graphics | Accessibility help News services Your news when you want BBC News 24 it News Front Page Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 16:30 GMT E-mail this to a friend Printable version How cancer studies wasted cash By Gerry Northam File On 4 Africa Expensive and time- Americas consuming work in Home Asia-Pacific laboratories around the ABOUT THE PROGRAMME Europe world has rendered many Listen Again Middle East cancers treatable, bringing Transcripts South Asia added years, even decades, Coming Up UK for countless patients and Reporter profiles Business their families. INTERACT Health File on 4 SMS alerts Science/Nature So it comes as a shock to learn Cell-line mistakes have made Contact Us Technology that millions of pounds in thousands of cancer studies invalid Questions & Answers Entertainment charitable donations and from taxpayers are being wasted on Also in the news "worthless" research for lack of good housekeeping practice SEARCH FILE ON 4: ----------------- in the lab. Video and Audio ----------------- BBC File On 4 has discovered that many scientists fail to PODCAST Have Your Say carry out simple and inexpensive checks to ensure that they Download or subscribe to this In Pictures are working with the right experimental materials - particular programme's podcast Country Profiles forms of human cancer cells. Special Reports As a result, thousands of studies are invalid. RELATED BBC SITES SPORT The experience of Dr Chris Tselepis at the Cancer Research SEE ALSO WEATHER UK laboratories in Birmingham University, highlights the Cancer studies 'wasted millions' ON THIS DAY problem. 20 Nov 07 | File on 4 EDITORS' BLOG RELATED INTERNET LINKS For more than 20 years, researchers in many countries have Cancer Research UK used a particular experimental culture of cancer cells known Medical Research Council as TE7 to study one type of oesophageal cancer. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites This 'cell-line' has been sold worldwide and formed the basis MOST POPULAR STORIES NOW of hundreds of published studies. MOST E-MAILED MOST READ Olmert warns of 'end of Israel' But Dr Tselepis and an It is an incredible Manila coup bid ends in surrender international group of frustration because brain Hackers hijack web search colleagues discovered that TE7 tumour research is extremely results poorly funded and its hard- is the wrong type of cancer, UK teacher goes to court in fought money and when we and the implications for two Sudan get money into the laboratory decades of study are grave. we need to produce good Morrissey insists on NME apology strong results, good strong Most popular now, in detail "If there's a study which is data and we need to report claiming that a particular drug back to those organisations which are mainly charities has a particular effect on a cell who are funding our research. type and potentially you could use this drug for the Prof Geoff Pilkington, University of treatment of patients that Portsmouth clearly is going to be misfounded," he explained. The result is a waste of time and money. But how can this happen? The problem of misidentification of cell-lines arises because to the naked eye they look similar - a cluster of tiny dots on the bottom of a laboratory flask. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/file_on_4/7104070.stm 2007/11/29 BBC NEWS | Programmes | File on 4 | How cancer studies wasted cash 2/4 ページ Even under a powerful microscope, it can be hard to tell one cancer cell from another. Professor Geoff Pilkington, of the University of Portsmouth learned this the hard way , "There are two incidences that I'm aware of in the laboratories whereby we've had what we call squeaky contaminants and these are whereby our human cell lines, where those have become contaminated with either rat or mouse cell lines." It meant the whole research into brain tumours had to be binned and started again. "It is an incredible frustration because brain tumour research is extremely poorly funded and its hard-fought money and when we get money into the laboratory we need to produce good strong results, good strong data and we need to report back to those organisations which are mainly Some academics have called for tough charities who are funding our action to authenticate cell-lines research." The problems created by contaminated or misidentified cell- lines have a wider impact as studies based on the wrong materials regularly find their way into scientific journals and become part of the accepted literature - muddying the foundation for further research. This danger troubles one of Britain's leading experts, Karol Sikora Professor of Cancer Medicine at Imperial College London. Although he is quick to point out that no patient is likely to be directly harmed by such invalid lab work. 'Sloppy science' "One of the problems of course is that investigators are competitive, eager to get the results. They don't want to waste their time doing what they regard as a technical exercise, typing the cell lines. They believe someone else should do it for them. And that's led to this sloppiness, I guess, in science." And even after a false cell-line has been unmasked, scientists carry on using it as if it were the real thing while other studies are utterly invalidated by the error. Professor Gertrude Buehring, found a third of studies involving a false cell-line in publications from 1969 to 2004 used it in an invalid way as if it were the cell type of origin and obviously having no idea it was a contaminant. The expert on leukaemia and breast cancer at the University of California in Berkeley, was one of 19 eminent specialists from Britain and America who wrote this summer to the United States Health Secretary calling for tough action to eliminate such "worthless" research. The Director of the Federal Research Agency National Institutes of Health responded: "There appears to be abundant evidence that contaminated or misidentified cultures have compromised the validity of many studies and publications." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/file_on_4/7104070.stm 2007/11/29 BBC NEWS | Programmes | File on 4 | How cancer studies wasted cash 3/4 ページ But the response from We would expect labs to scientists was lukewarm authenticate their work or use according to the originator of properly-sourced cells. the Open Letter, Professor Roland Nardone of the Dr Rob Buckle, Medical Research Catholic University of America. Council "They morphed into ostriches, is the best explanation I have." He now advocates zero tolerance with respect to advocating "no authentication, no grant; no authentication, no publication in a good scientific journal. " We wanted to ask the editors of leading UK journals and funding bodies their response to the no authentication, no publication policy. No-one from the leading British journal 'Nature' was available for interview. Nor was the editor of the British Journal of Cancer. The journal's parent body, Cancer Research UK, did not put up anyone for interview but in a statement stressed it carried out stringent checks on its own bank of cell-lines, including a DNA authenticating service. And there was a cautious response from the leading source of public funding, the Medical Research Council, which spends £500m of public money a year - more than £70m of it on cancer research. Cell authentication The MRC's Dr Rob Buckle said: "We would expect labs to authenticate their work or use properly-sourced cells." It may seem unbelievable to those outside the scientific establishment that there should be a problem of using false research samples especially when a relatively cheap authentication process is now available. But even within the establishment, voices are now calling for science to put its house in order, joined by Prof Sikora. "I think we as a scientific community have to do something about it. Just no grant or no publication, but no publication is probably more powerful. If one of the leading journals, which all of us want to publish in, said 'okay, you have used cell lines, wonderful, just give us the certificate of authenticity.' Now we can tell all that and it doesn't necessarily cost a lot of money." You hear the full story on File On 4, Tuesday 20 November 2007, 2000 GMT, repeated Sunday 25 November 2007, 1700 GMT. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with: What are these? 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