WILTSHIRE, England, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Research projects into cancer and other major diseases are producing false or misleading results because investigators are studying the wrong type of cell.
New Scientist reported Friday the mistakes arise when fast-growing "rogue cells" contaminate cell cultures and swamp the real cells. Work on prostate cancer, for example, might be worthless because cells researchers thought were prostate cancer cells turn out to be cervical cancer cells.
The danger has been known for decades but most researchers still fail to check the identity of the cells with which they are working. And several new rogue cells are emerging, New Scientist reported.
Warnings about the problem were issued this week at a conference in Warwick, England, organized by the Britain's Health Protection Agency.
Exact figures are hard to nail down because researchers are either unaware they have worked with the wrong cells, or try to cover up their mistakes, New Scientist said.
"If people have spent three years working on the wrong cells, they are not likely to want to tell people about it," says David Lewis, manager of the European Collection of Cell Cultures, based at Porton Down in Wiltshire.
