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Review
. 2021 Dec 4;22(23):13135.
doi: 10.3390/ijms222313135.

The Curious Case of the HepG2 Cell Line: 40 Years of Expertise

Viktoriia A Arzumanian  1 , Olga I Kiseleva  1 , Ekaterina V Poverennaya  1
Affiliations
Review

The Curious Case of the HepG2 Cell Line: 40 Years of Expertise

Viktoriia A Arzumanian et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Liver cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Representing such a dramatic impact on our lives, liver cancer is a significant public health concern. Sustainable and reliable methods for preventing and treating liver cancer require fundamental research on its molecular mechanisms. Cell lines are treated as in vitro equivalents of tumor tissues, making them a must-have for basic research on the nature of cancer. According to recent discoveries, certified cell lines retain most genetic properties of the original tumor and mimic its microenvironment. On the other hand, modern technologies allowing the deepest level of detail in omics landscapes have shown significant differences even between samples of the same cell line due to cross- and mycoplasma infection. This and other observations suggest that, in some cases, cell cultures are not suitable as cancer models, with limited predictive value for the effectiveness of new treatments. HepG2 is a popular hepatic cell line. It is used in a wide range of studies, from the oncogenesis to the cytotoxicity of substances on the liver. In this regard, we set out to collect up-to-date information on the HepG2 cell line to assess whether the level of heterogeneity of the cell line allows in vitro biomedical studies as a model with guaranteed production and quality.

Keywords: HepG2 cell line; hepatoblastoma; hepatocellular carcinoma; hepatocytes; mutations.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Types of human liver cells and their distribution.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage of manuscripts using human hepatic cell lines in accordance with the corresponding search term on PubMed (accessed on 23 November 2021).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Significant liver cancer markers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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