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Cell passage number: an intrinsic factor influencing the reproducibility of cell experiments

GSE308793 Mus musculus (mouse) RNA-seq (gene expression) 20 samples Submitted 2025/09/24 Platform GPL20795Platform GPL21273
At a glance

RNA-seq (gene expression) · mouse · 20 samples

What it is
RNA-seq (gene expression)Gene activity measured by sequencing. The summary does not mention single-cell work, so this is most likely bulk: one average per sample, the usual starting point for comparing groups.
Organism
Mus musculus (mouse)
Samples
20 samples: 10 conditions, mostly in duplicateGroups are read from the sample names, not from the paper. Check the list below.
Data you can get
A processed table (series matrix) and supplementary files from NCBI; the raw sequencing reads from ENA. Which of these hold counts depends on the study, so check the file list.
Paper
Cell passage number drives transcriptomic drift as an overlooked factor in experimental reproducibilityScientific reports · 2025
Summary (written by the submitters)
The reproducibility of scientific research has been increasingly challenged in recent years. While extrinsic factors (e.g., cross-contamination, mycoplasma infection, serum variability) are well-studied, the role of intrinsic attributes like cell passage number remains underexplored. Using two tumor cell lines (ACHN and Renca), we employed RNA sequencing to analyze transcriptomic dynamics across passages (P3 to P39).
Read the full summary ↓
Results revealed a nonlinear transcriptomic shift: mid-passage cells (P10/P11, P17) showed heightened activity in cell cycle, metabolism, and stress response, whereas low (P3) and high passages (P24/P39) exhibited stable and similar profiles. KEGG analysis indicated significant alterations in signaling, immune, and metabolic pathways during passaging. This study demonstrates that passage number shapes transcriptional landscapes and impacts experimental reproducibility. We advocate for strict passage control and explicit reporting of passage information to enhance reliability. These findings underscore the need for standardized cell culture practices to improve research reproducibility.
Published in
Cell passage number drives transcriptomic drift as an overlooked factor in experimental reproducibility
Liu S, Peng H, Meng J et al. · Scientific reports 2025 · PMID 41272245 · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-29424-1
This dataset
Download · which file do I need?

Direct links to NCBI and ENA, no account and no request form. Pick by what you want to do: take the small processed table to look, the supplementary files to re-analyse, or the original raw data to start over.

1 · Just have a look

Processed table

The series matrix: one table of values per sample as the submitters processed it. The smallest download, and it opens in Excel or R. Start here to see what the data look like.

2 · Re-analyse it

Supplementary files

The count tables and other files the authors uploaded. Take only the samples you need, or the whole study as GSE308793_RAW.tar (it can run to tens of gigabytes).

3 · Start from the raw reads

Raw sequencing reads

The original FASTQ files, straight from the sequencer, held at ENA. Large, and you align them yourself, so only choose this if you need to re-process the study from scratch.

What the files usually look like: For RNA-seq the counts are usually a table among the supplementary files (look for 'counts', 'expression', 'FPKM' or 'TPM' in the file name). The series matrix of a sequencing study is sometimes nearly empty.

Also filed as BioProject PRJNA1332728 and SRA study SRP624982. Searching any of these in the dataset finder brings you back here.

Study design
10 conditions, mostly in duplicate
ACHN cells, passage 3, ×2 ACHN cells, passage 10, ×2 ACHN cells, passage 17, ×2 ACHN cells, passage 24, ×2 ACHN cells, passage 39, ×2 Renca cells, passage 3, ×2 Renca cells, passage 10, ×2 Renca cells, passage 17, ×2 +2 more

Supports a between-group comparison across 20 samples.

How we read this: 10 replicated groups read from 20 sample titles; they account for 20 of them. These groups are guessed from the sample names, not taken from the paper, so check them against the sample list below before relying on them.

Samples in this study
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