ECACC Cell Lines in 2025: Supporting Global Research Across Disciplines 

In 2025, more than 500 peer reviewed publications referenced the use of ECACC (European Collection of Authenticated Cell Cultures) cell lines, underlining their central role in high quality scientific research. As one of the world’s leading repositories of authenticated and quality-controlled cell lines, ECACC continues to provide the research community with reliable biological materials of known provenance, essential for reproducible science. The diversity of studies published last year demonstrates how widely ECACC resources are used across cancer biology, immunology, virology, toxicology and drug development.

 

Advancing Cancer Research

Many research groups relied on ECACC tumour derived and drug-resistant cell lines to investigate cancer mechanisms, treatment responses, and biomarker discovery. One 2025 study explored how oestrogens and steroid sulfatase inhibition influence platinum resistance in high grade serous ovarian cancer ¹. The researchers used ECACC sourced COV362 (07071910) cells to examine how targeted inhibitors and hormone agonists affect cell viability, migration and cell death. Findings from this and similar studies provide important insights into treatment resistance and support the development of more effective therapeutic strategies.

 

Improving Understanding of Immune and Gut Biology

ECACC cell lines also played an important role in immunology research. A recent study in Frontiers in Immunology used ECACC CACO-2 (86010202) and  HT29-MTX-E12 (12040401) cells to develop an improved intestinal tricellular model². This system allowed researchers to evaluate how digested foods influence inflammatory markers such as IL6, TNFα, IL8 and IL18. The study demonstrated that this advanced in vitro model offers a valuable tool for understanding how dietary components may modulate immune responses in the colon.

 

Supporting Virology and Emerging Infectious Disease Research

Several virology studies relied on ECACC cell lines to investigate viral behaviour and diagnostic methods. In one example, A549 (86012804) cells were used to isolate and characterise a UK subtype of tick-borne encephalitis virus³. These authenticated cells enabled researchers to confirm cytopathic effects and generate high quality virus preparations for downstream molecular analysis. Such work highlights the continued importance of robust cell models in emerging pathogen surveillance and assay development.

 

Strengthening Toxicology and Drug Screening

ECACC Cell lines, including MCF7 (86012803), HeLa (93021013), OAW42-A (20082613) and A549 (86012804), remain widely used in pharmacology and toxicity studies. In 2025, a medicinal chemistry study evaluated a series of newly synthesised compounds for anticancer and antimalarial activity using ECACC A549 cells⁴. These investigations help identify new therapeutic candidates and expand understanding of compound behaviour in human derived cellular systems.

 

Share Your Research

We encourage researchers to cite ECACC cell lines clearly in their publications and to share their findings with us. ECACC also offers a catalogue deposit service, enabling researchers to preserve their cell lines for global use and contribute to future scientific progress.

If the use of an ECACC cell line does result in a scientific publication, it can be cited as: [Cell Line Name] (ECACC [Accession Number]).