Dear Dr. Sohini Sen
Cell lines present a number of potential hazards. Human cell lines may carry viral contamination such as hepatitis or HIV, representing a health hazard to laboratory workers. They may be contaminated with bacteria, fungi, mycoplasma, or viruses, which may spread to other cell lines. It is always better to carry out your own testing procedures before accepting an incoming cell line into laboratory use. Cancerous cell lines pose the additional risk of causing localized tumors or, if malignant, additional carcinogenic concerns, if exposed, especially an individual with a compromised immune system. Some cell lines are known to carry additional pathogen genetic material such as Human Papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in HeLa cell line.
It is impractical, if not impossible to screen such cultures for all potentially harmful micro-organisms. Even well-characterized lines with a history of safe use can become contaminated by adventitious, possibly infectious, micro-organisms. For this reason, it is prudent to treat all mammalian cultures as moderate risk agents (unless known to be higher) and to adopt containment levels and operating practices assigned to containment level 2 when working with them.
When dealing with primary cultures involving tumor, you must be aware of serious laboratory-acquired infections from tissue, primary cell cultures and tumor cells taken from, or when transplanted into animals. When obtaining primary tissue from laboratory animals it is important to ensure that the animals used are free of specific pathogens and suppliers should provide evidence of testing.
Some of the precautions to be taken while handling cancer cell lines are as follows.
1. Proper hand wash on entry and exit.
2. Wear protective covering such as gloves, apron, face mask and head cap.
3. Decontaminate the work surface area before and after the experiment using a suitable disinfectant.
4. Dispose the waste in a proper manner as per laboratory guidelines.
5. Avoid frequent use of antibiotics in culture.
6. Avoid prolonged storage of culture in the incubator.
7. Immunization should be carried out for those people who work directly with, or who may be exposed to, certain micro-organisms that can infect humans. For instance, Hepatitis B immunization is offered for staff working directly with human blood, and tetanus immunization is offered to staff working in higher risk environments or having contact with research animals.
Regards,
Malcolm Nobre
When handling cancer cells or cancer cell-derived extracellular vesicles, laboratory precautions typically including use of personal protective equipment, maintaining aseptic conditions to prevent contamination of the cell cultures or samples and working in a biosafety cabinet to protect the cells and the user, especially when performing aerosol-generating procedures.
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