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Highly efficient establishment of immortalized cells from adult human liver

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Methods in Cell Science

Abstract

Human liver tissue slices, homogenates, organ cultures, subcellular fractions and primary hepatocyte cultures represent valuable tools for analysis of metabolism, toxicity and efficacy of xenobiotics. However, the limited access to human tissue and the high test variability with different tissue isolates underline the significance of having standardized and defined human liver cell models. This report describes the establishment of replicative cultures of human liver epithelial cells and their immortalization in serum-free medium. Highly efficient immortalization is achieved by the infection of primary liver cells with a retroviral recombinant carrying the simian virus 40 (SV40) large T antigen gene. These cultures have an indefinite life-span, are non-tumorigenic and express differentiation markers and metabolic functions of normal primary hepatocytes. Therefore, these cells are useful for various pharmaco-toxicological applications.

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Abbreviations

LCM:

live cell medium

SV40:

Simian virus 40

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, University of Maryland, Maryland, USA

    M. M. Lipsky

  2. Nestlé Research Centre, P.O. Box 44, CH-1000, Lausanne 26, Switzerland

    A. M. A. Pfeifer, K. Mace & Y. Tromvoukis

Authors
  1. A. M. A. Pfeifer
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  2. K. Mace
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  3. Y. Tromvoukis
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  4. M. M. Lipsky
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Pfeifer, A.M.A., Mace, K., Tromvoukis, Y. et al. Highly efficient establishment of immortalized cells from adult human liver. Methods Cell Sci 17, 83–89 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986655

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986655

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