Animal Cell Cultures: Risk Assessment and Biosafety Recommendations

During the last three decades, animal cell culturing has been essential for biomedical research and biotechnological activities in general. Along with this increasing importance, biosafety concerns have pointed to the risks of manipulating animal cell cultures for human health and the environment. A maximal reduction of these risks necessitates a thorough risk assessment of the cell cultures used. It involves an evaluation of both the intrinsic properties of the cell culture, including subsequent properties acquired as a result of genetic modification, and the possibility that the cell culture may inadvertently or deliberately become contaminated with pathogens. The latter is a major hazard associated with the manipulation of animal cell cultures, as adventitious agents may be pathogenic and have a better capacity to survive in unfavorable conditions. Consequently, most of the containment measures primarily aim at protecting cells from adventitious contamination. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of the risks encountered during the handling of cell cultures should include considerations regarding the type of manipulation as well. As a rule, cell cultures known to harbor an infectious etiologic agent should be manipulated in compliance with containment measures recommended for the etiologic agent. With the exception of very well-characterized cell cultures for which the use of a type II biosafety cabinet depends on the origin of the cells, work with cell cultures from human or primate origin should generally and minimally be performed under containment level 2 using a type II biosafety cabinet. In every case, containment measures should minimize adventitious contamination of the cell cultures and offer a maximal protection of human health and the environment.