Establishment and characterization of four human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines containing hepatitis B virus DNA

AIM To investigate the characteristics of newly established four hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (SNU-739, SNU-761, SNU-878 and SNU-886) from Korean hepatocellular cancer patients. METHODS Morphologic and genetic studies were done, RESULTS All four lines grew as a monolayer with an adherent pattern, and their doubling times ranged from 20 to 29 hours, The viability rate was relatively high (88% - 94%). Neither mycoplasmal nor bacterial contamination was present. The lines showed different patterns in fingerprinting analysis. The hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was integrated in the genomes of all four lines, and in all of them HBx, HBc and HBs transcripts were detected by reverse transcriptase-PCR methods. Among the three cell lines used as control (Hep 3B, SK Hep1 and Hep G2), only Hep 3B showed HBx expression, and this line was used as a HBV integrated control. The RNA of albumin was detected in three lines (SNU-761, SNU-878 and SNU-886), that of transferrin in two lines (SNU-878, SNU-886), and that of IGF-II was detected in none of the cell lines. CONCLUSION These well characterized cell lines may be very useful for studying the biology of hepatocellular carcinoma in association with the hepatitis B virus.