Characterization of Murine and Human HCC Cell Lines

Murine RIL-175 hepatocellular carcinoma cells [39 (link)] were characterized and provided by colleague Dr. Tim Greten from the National Cancer Institute. The cells were grown in vitro in RPMI-1640 Medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% penicillin/streptomycin in humidified air with 5% CO₂. The RIL-175 cells were genetically authenticated and tested at the Animal Health Diagnostic laboratory, NCI Frederick, MD, USA, using the Molecular Testing of Biological Materials Mouse/Rat (MTBM-M/R) Test, and all the tests were negative for pathogens. Dt81Hepa1-6 murine HCC cells [16 (link)] were a gift from Dr. Marc Bilodeau (Montreal, QC, Canada) and are a highly metastatic cell line derived from the ATCC parent Hepa1-6 cells. The Dt81Hepa1-6 cells were tested and determined to be free of pathogens by the MU Research Animal Diagnostic Laboratory using the IMPACT I PCR Profile. Dt81Hepa1-6 cells were maintained in DMEM standard growth media supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% pen/strep in humidified air with 5% CO_2. The HepG2 human HCC cancer cell line was obtained from the ATCC through the Tissue and Cell culture repository of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. This cell line has been used extensively to study human HCC and has been characterized as a hepatoblastoma-derived cell line [40 (link)]. These cells were maintained in DMEM media supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% pen/strep in humidified air with 5% CO₂.