What is the difference between HEK293 and HEK293T?

HEK293 – The HEK293 line is the original line established from a primary embryonic human kidney and transformed with sheared human adenovirus type 5 DNA. HEK293T – HEK293T is a HEK293 variant that expresses a temperature-sensitive allele of the SV40 T antigen.

What are HEK293T cells?

293T (or HEK 293T) is a human cell line, derived from the HEK 293 cell line, that expresses a mutant version of the SV40 large T antigen. It is very commonly used in biology for protein expression and production of recombinant retroviruses.

What are CHO cells and what are they used for?

CHO cells are the most common mammalian cell line used for mass production of therapeutic proteins. They can produce recombinant protein on the scale of 3-10 grams per liter of culture.

How are cell lines developed?

The simplest way to create a new cell line is to modify an existing one, a common strategy when an established line already comes close to meeting the requirements. Cells optimized to grow particular viruses or maximize recombinant protein production often come from such modifications.

Why is it called HEK293?

They were published in 1977 after Graham left Leiden for McMaster University. They are called HEK since they originated in human embryonic kidney cultures, while the number 293 came from Graham’s habit of numbering his experiments; the original HEK 293 cell clone was from his 293rd experiment.

What is the advantage of using hek293t cells in this assay?

Advantages of HEK293 cells Firstly, they are very easy to grow and to maintain, with high reproducibility, which makes them preferable over other less-robust and slow-growing cell lines. Furthermore, they are very efficient at protein production and accessible for transfection.

Are there other immortal cell lines?

There are various immortal cell lines. Some of them are normal cell lines (e.g. derived from stem cells). Other immortalised cell lines are the in vitro equivalent of cancerous cells. The origins of some immortal cell lines, for example HeLa human cells, are from naturally occurring cancers.

What are transformed cell lines?

A transformed cell line is a cell line that acquired infinite growth after insertion of viral gene components into the cell’s genome. Transformed cell line tend to maintain stable characteristics over time. However, conventional (not transformed) cell lines usually show important phenotypic changes over the passages.

Is HEK 293 Safe?

These organisms pose a moderate health hazard. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines (pdf) require BSL-2 containment for work with HEK 293 cell lines.