The Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH has successfully adapted four widely used human cancer cell lines (HELA, HL-60, K-562 and JIMT-1) to animal-component-free media. The world’s most diverse cell bank collection now offers an ethically and scientifically advantageous alternative to the commonly used fetal calf serum (FCS).

FCS has been used to cultivate cancer cells for decades, but it is associated with considerable animal suffering and leads to problems with the reproducibility of experiments due to fluctuating composition. The research group of Dr. Sonja Eberth at the DSMZ has adapted the cell lines to human platelet lysate as well as completely chemically defined media. Comprehensive macroscopic and molecular examinations confirmed that the characteristics characteristic of the respective cancer were completely preserved.

The first cell line in this series, the leukemia cell line HL-60, is now available as an animal-component-free culture via the DSMZ catalog. Further adapted lines are to follow. Researchers can thus draw on established, well-characterized models without having to make time-consuming and cost-intensive adjustments themselves.

The study has been published in the journal Alternatives to Animal Experimentation (ALTEX). By offering animal-component-free cell lines, the DSMZ aims to advance the transition to an ethically justifiable and more reproducible cell culture in biomedical research.

Original paper:

Multiparametric evaluation of different FBS-free replacement media for widely used human cancer cell lines | ALTEX – Alternatives to Animal Experimentation

Editor: X-Press Journalistenbüro GbR

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