Extreme Clonality in Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines
Author Information
Author(s): Vincent Plagnol, Elif Uz, Chris Wallace, Helen Stevens, David Clayton, Tayfun Ozcelik, John A. Todd
Primary Institution: JDRF/WT Diabetes and Inflammation Laboratory, University of Cambridge
Hypothesis
Can the clonality of lymphoblastoid cell lines significantly affect allele specific expression analyses?
Conclusion
The study confirms that lymphoblastoid cell lines often exhibit near monoclonality, which can compromise allele specific expression analyses.
Supporting Evidence
- Approximately 10% of human genes show random monoallelic expression in lymphoblastoid cell lines.
- The study found that 60% of lymphoblastoid cell lines are affected by pauciclonality.
- X chromosome inactivation was used to measure the degree of clonality in the cell lines.
Takeaway
This study found that many cell lines used in research are very similar to each other, which can lead to incorrect results when studying gene expression.
Methodology
The study used X chromosome inactivation as a measure to assess the clonality of lymphoblastoid cell lines.
Potential Biases
Potential bias due to the use of clonal cell lines instead of diverse cell populations.
Limitations
The study relies on the assumption that the pattern of XCI is similar across different populations.
Participant Demographics
The study included lymphoblastoid cell lines from healthy women and type 1 diabetic women from the British 1958 Birth Cohort and Turkish controls.
Statistical Information
P-Value
0.01
Confidence Interval
0.03–0.05
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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