Hidekazu Nakabayashi

A human hepatoma cell line, HuH-7, which was established from a hepatocellular carcinoma, was found to replicate continuously in a chemically defined medium when the medium was supplemented with Na2SeO3. The cells grew better in this medium than in serum-containing medium without any adaptation period. Other established human hepatoma and hepatoblastoma cell lines, HuH-6 cl-5, PLC/PRF/5, huH-1, and huH-4, also grew in the defined medium. Although HLEC-1 cells failed to proliferate continuously with Na2SeO3 alone, they grew if a cell-free conditioned medium from HuH-7 cells was added to the medium. These cell lines, except the HLEC-1 cell line, produced the following human plasma proteins among those examined: albumin, prealbumin, alpha 1-antitrypsin, ceruloplasmin, fibrinogen, fibronectin, haptoglobin, hemopexin, beta-lipoprotein, alpha 2-macroglobulin, beta 2-microglobulin, transferrin, lipoprotein, alpha 2-macroglobulin, beta 2-microglobulin, transferrin, Complement Components 3 and 4, and alpha 1-fetoprotein. Beside plasma proteins, the media from HuH-7, HuH-6 cl-5, PLC/PRF/5, and huH-1 contained anti-carcinoembryonic antigen-reactive proteins, and those from PLC/PRF/5, huH-1, and huH-4 medium contained hepatitis B surface antigen. These proteins were detected during periods of serial cultivation over 9 months under the above culture conditions. The hepatoma cell lines grown in the fully defined synthetic medium may provide a new approach for investigating the growth and metabolism of human hepatoma cells in vitro.

Most patients with hepatocellular carcinoma have an elevated alpha-feto-protein (AFP) level. This high level of AFP expression is transcriptionally controlled by the 5'-flanking sequence of the AFP gene. Using the 5'-flanking sequence as a promoter for the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) gene in an adenoviral vector (Av1AFPTK1), the therapeutic efficacy of adenovirus-mediated HSV-TK gene transduction, followed by ganciclovir (GCV) administration, was studied in tumors in athymic nude mice. Av1AFPTK1 transduction of two cell lines demonstrated HSV-TK enzyme activity only in the AFP-producing cells (HuH7) and not in the AFP nonproducing cells (SK-Hep-1). As expected, only transduced HuH7 cells were killed by GCV treatment. Transduction by an adenoviral vector harboring a Rous sarcoma virus promoter and HSV-TK gene (Av1TK1) showed enzymatic activity and GCV killing in both cell lines. All HuH7 tumors that were transduced with either Av1AFPTK1 or Av1TK1 completely regressed after GCV treatment. On the other hand, there was complete regression of SK-Hep-1 tumors only when treated with Av1TK1 and GCV and not when treated with Av1AFPTK1 and GCV. Thus, cell-specific killing was achieved by adenoviral vector containing AFP promoter for the HSV-TK gene and GCV treatment.

The alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) gene is normally expressed in fetal liver and is transcriptionally silent in adult liver but overexpressed in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we demonstrate that replication defective recombinant adenoviral vectors, containing the human AFP promoter/enhancer, can be used to express the Escherichia coli cytosine deaminase (CD) gene (AdAFPCD) and the beta-galactosidase gene (AdAF-PlacZ) in AFP-producing HCC cell lines. Expression of the CD gene by adenovirus from the AFP promoter/enhancer (AdAFPCD) induced cells sensitive to 5-fluorocytosine (5FC) in the AFP-producing cells but not in the AFP-nonproducing cells. Transduction by an adenoviral vector harboring an ubiquitous strong promoter and CD gene showed enzymatic activity and 5FC killing in all cell lines. When AdAFPlacZ was injected into the s.c. established hepatoma in vivo, expression of the beta-galactosidase gene was confined to AFP-producing HCC xenografts. Moreover, HCC xenografts regressed by transduction with AdAFPCD and subsequently with 5FC treatment in vivo. These findings suggest that utilization of the AFP promoter/enhancer in an adenoviral vector can confer selective expression of a heterologous suicide gene in hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo.

A large percentage of human hepatomas produce alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), but the levels of AFP expression vary greatly among hepatomas. To understand the molecular basis for this variation, we analyzed transcriptional regulatory activities associated with the 5'-flanking region of the AFP gene in two human hepatoma cell lines, HuH-7 and huH-1/cl-2, which produce a high and a low level of AFP, respectively. We found that the low level of AFP production in huH-1/cl-2 is due to the action of at least two silencer regions located between the enhancer and the promoter of the AFP gene. In contrast, no silencer activity is expressed in HuH-7. We identified 5'-CTTCATAACTAATACTT-3' to be a core sequence responsible for the negative regulatory activity. This sequence is repeated four times in a strong, distal silencer region, Sd, whereas one copy is present in a weak, proximal silencer region, Sp. The silencer reduces transcriptional initiation by blocking enhancer activation of the AFP promoter in a position-dependent manner. The silencer functions in the presence of positive transcription factors and may play a key role in developmental repression as well as variable expression of the AFP gene in hepatomas.

A chemically defined medium containing selenium was further improved, and the improved medium showed excellent ability to support growth and colony formation of a human hepatoma cell line, HuH-7. The improved defined medium (designated as IS-RPMI) contained small amounts of unsaturated fatty acids, inorganic trace elements including selenium, and HEPES buffer. Many of these additions exert only a small individual effect on the growth of cells, but their cumulative effects were substantial. HuH-7 cells replicated continuously with a doubling time of 47-51 hr in IS-RPMI. A conditioned medium from a semiconfluent population increased the colony-forming ability of HuH-7 cells in IS-RPMI. The addition of insulin to the medium gave good colony growth, thus duplicating the effect of the conditioned medium. Although some alterations of morphological and growth characteristics of HuH-7 cells were observed, the differentiated liver functions, as revealed by production of plasma proteins including high levels of alpha 1-fetoprotein, were maintained for a period of more than 3 years and through 70 passages under the above culture conditions.