Strategies for Immortalization of Primary Hepatocytes

Overview

Journal J Hepatol

Publisher Elsevier

Specialty Gastroenterology

Date 2014 Jun 10

PMID 24911463

Citations 52

Authors

Eva Ramboer

Bram De Craene

Joery De Kock

Tamara Vanhaecke

Geert Berx

Vera Rogiers

Mathieu Vinken

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The liver has the unique capacity to regenerate in response to a damaging event. Liver regeneration is hereby largely driven by hepatocyte proliferation, which in turn relies on cell cycling. The hepatocyte cell cycle is a complex process that is tightly regulated by several well-established mechanisms. In vitro, isolated hepatocytes do not longer retain this proliferative capacity. However, in vitro cell growth can be boosted by immortalization of hepatocytes. Well-defined immortalization genes can be artificially overexpressed in hepatocytes or the cells can be conditionally immortalized leading to controlled cell proliferation. This paper discusses the current immortalization techniques and provides a state-of-the-art overview of the actually available immortalized hepatocyte-derived cell lines and their applications.

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