Profound Differences of MicroRNA Expression Patterns in Hepatocytes and Hepatoma Cell Lines Commonly Used in Hepatitis C Virus Studies

摘要

To the Editor: In their recent letter to the editor, Bensadoun et al. describe a divergent IL-28B (interleukin-28B) genotype of hepatoma cell lines including Huh7 and its derivatives. Because these cell lines are commonly used in cell culture studies of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the IL-28B gene polymorphism is a predictive marker for the outcome of HCV infection, their observations emphasize the importance of cautiously interpreting infection studies performed in vitro. Here, we extend their conclusions and report profound differences in the microRNA (miRNA) expression between primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) and Huh7 cell lines.