Huh7 Explained

Huh7 is an immortalised cell line and may be grown in the laboratory for research purposes. According to the web site huh7.com, it is "a well differentiated hepatocyte-derived carcinoma cell line, originally taken from a liver tumor in a 57-year-old Japanese male in 1982."^[1] It is used extensively in hepatitis C and dengue virus research.^{[2] [3]}

Huh7 cells have been instrumental in hepatitis C research. Until 2005, it was not possible to culture hepatitis C in the laboratory. The introduction of the Huh7 cell line permitted screening of drug candidates against laboratory-cultured hepatitis C virus and permitted the development of new drugs against hepatitis C.^{[4] [5]}

In February 2022 it was reported that the Huh7 cells can reverse transcribe at least parts of the code of the mRNA from the BNT162b2 vaccine into DNA (the study doesn't prove that that DNA is integrated).^[6]

External links

• Cellosaurus entry for Huh7

Notes and References

1. Web site: HuH-7 Cell Line. 2016-07-05.
2. Three-dimensional Huh7 cell culture system for the study of Hepatitis C virus infection. Virology Journal. 2009. 6. 103. 10.1186/1743-422X-6-103. 19604376. 2719612. Sainz. Bruno. Tencate. Veronica. Uprichard. Susan L . free .
3. The medicinal chemistry of dengue virus. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 59. 12. 5622–5649. 2016. 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5b01653. 26771861. Behnam. Mira A. M.. Nitsche. Christoph. Boldescu. Veaceslav. Klein. Christian D.. free.
4. Efficient hepatitis C virus cell culture system: what a difference the host cell makes. 1175013. 15998731. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2005. 102. 28. 9739–40. Bartenschlager. R. Pietschmann. T. 10.1073/pnas.0504296102. 2005PNAS..102.9739B. free.
5. 2009. 7. 3. 329–50. 10.1586/eri.09.12. 19344246. Hepatitis C virus virology and new treatment targets. Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy. Meier. Volker. Ramadori. Giuliano. 38411966.
6. Intracellular Reverse Transcription of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 In Vitro in Human Liver Cell Line . 10.3390/cimb44030073 . 25 February 2022. 8946961 . free . Aldén . Markus . Olofsson Falla . Francisko . Yang . Daowei . Barghouth . Mohammad . Luan . Cheng . Rasmussen . Magnus . De Marinis . Yang . Current Issues in Molecular Biology . 44 . 3 . 1115–1126 . 35723296 .