On 2014 Oct 15, Amanda Capes-Davis commented:

More recent work has shown that hTERT-EEC is misidentified and is actually MCF-7. So hTERT-EEC cells are from breast carcinoma, not immortalized endothelium.

It's important to test cell lines to confirm they correspond to the expected donor and are not cross-contaminated, using a consensus technique such as STR profiling. Journals are increasingly requiring testing as a prerequisite before publication and this will help to address the widespread use of misidentified cell lines in the scientific literature.

It's also a good idea to check before using a cell line to see if others have documented a problem previously. ICLAC maintains a list of known misidentified cell lines at http://iclac.org/databases/cross-contaminations/.

On 2014 Oct 15, Amanda Capes-Davis commented:

More recent work has shown that hTERT-EEC is misidentified and is actually MCF-7. So hTERT-EEC cells are from breast carcinoma, not immortalized endothelium.

It's important to test cell lines to confirm they correspond to the expected donor and are not cross-contaminated, using a consensus technique such as STR profiling. Journals are increasingly requiring testing as a prerequisite before publication and this will help to address the widespread use of misidentified cell lines in the scientific literature.

It's also a good idea to check before using a cell line to see if others have documented a problem previously. ICLAC maintains a list of known misidentified cell lines at http://iclac.org/databases/cross-contaminations/.