HEK cells
HEK cells is the abbreviation for " Human Embryonic Kidney " cells, human embryonic kidney cells (HEK). This cell line is also known as HEK-293 or 293 cells. HEK cells have been used in cell biology for many years as a relatively easy-to-use cell line.
definition
HEK-293 is a human cell line that has existed since the early 1970s and was created as a transformation product of a human embryonic kidney cell ( H uman E mbryonic K idney) with DNA parts of the human adenovirus 5. Specifically, 4.5 kilobases of the viral genome were incorporated into the genetic make-up of the kidney cell. HEK-293 are hypotriploid epithelial cells that grow adherently. The HEK-293 cell line is often used in the development of viral vaccines, chemotherapeutic agents, and the production of recombinant adenovirus vectors. It can be grown well in serum-free media .
Importance in research
Since they have been artificially transformed, ie they have been artificially given characteristics of a cancer cell by introducing foreign DNA, it is only of limited use as a model. This is offset by the ease with which it can be cultivated and transfected . As long as the behavior of the components within the cell is more of interest than the behavior of the cell itself, they are well suited as study objects.
HEK cells are of particular interest for virology. Since HEK cells express certain adenovirus genes as a result of the original transformation with an adenovirus, they are also used to reproduce adenoviruses. A certain variant of the HEK-293 cells, the 293T cells , also expresses the "SV40 large T antigen", which enables the DNA replication of episomal plasmids with the "SV40 origin of replication". Certain retroviruses such as lentiviruses or DNA viruses can thus be propagated in 293T cells. As a result, basic research studies on the binding, infection and replication of a number of viruses (e.g. human papilloma viruses ) in 293T cells are carried out.
Historical aspects
HEK cells were produced from the early 1960s. Harvey Shein (Harvard University) transformed kidney cell tissue from 2 to 3 month old fetuses, newborns, and 2 to 3 month old infants with SV-40 in 1962. Harald zur Hausen , at the time at the University of Philadelphia, transfected kidney cell tissue from human embryos with the adenovirus type 12 in 1967. Zur Hausen's HEK strains, which he received from an NIH laboratory, could not initially be grown serum-free.
The HEK-293T cell line was created in 1973 in the laboratory of Alex J. van der Eb at the University of Leiden . The Canadian post-doctoral student Frank L. Graham was also involved .
The original HEK cell line is contaminated with HeLa cells and is no longer used.
swell
- Harald zur Hausen: Induction of specific chromosomal aberrations by adenovirus type 12 in human embryonic kidney cells. Journal of Virology 1967 Dec; 1 (6): 1174-85, PMID 5621489
- Harvey M. Shein et al .: Transformation induced by simian virus 40 in human renal cell cultures. Morphology and growth characteristics. PNAS 1962 July 15; 48: 1164-72, PMID 13911592
