Establishment and characterization of immortalized human gingival keratinocyte cell lines

Abstract

The establishment of a continuous line of human gingival epithelial cells with functional characteristics of the epithelial barrier provides a valuable in vitro model for using to study the early steps of gingival/periodontal infections.

Current Status of Healthy Human Skin Models: Can Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors Potentially Improve the Present Replacement Models?

“…In contrast, immortalized keratinocyte cell lines, such as the commercially available HaCaT cell line, originating from a single donor, are an unlimited source of cells that can be grown in traditional media and maintained in culture for longer periods [81,83]. Transformed cell lines in turn might express other phenotypic features than normal cells and may therefore not be suitable in safety studies.…”

“…However, a disadvantage compared to cell lines is the donor variation, limited life span and the need for supplementary growth factors to survive in vitro . On the other hand, the large biological variability could mimic detection of adverse effects to a chemical compound in a heterogeneous population [80,81,82]. …”

“…Keratinocyte monolayers may be helpful to investigate certain pathways such as signal transduction, but they are not a representative model for the in vivo situation and therefore should not be used to predict safe or efficient topical application of compounds [80,81]. Keratinocyte monolayers can be derived from primary cells, immortalized cell lines and stem cells.…”

Interleukin-6 production and epithelial cell signaling by telomerase immortalized gingival keratinocytes in Porphyromonas gingivalis infection.

“…The HIGKs showed similar cytokeratin expression profile when compared to the parent gingival epithelial cells. Also, the HIGKs were shown to demonstrate a similar trans-epithelial electrical resistance (a marker to compare cell to cell junctions), like the GECs [31]. Evidences from a study, suggest that P. gingivalis when cocultured with other oral commensals like S. gordonii, reduces the pathogenicity of the pathogen (P. gingivalis) in HIGKs in vitro [32].…”

“…[30]. To overcome the issue of finite life span, viral oncoproteins E6 and E7 have been used to immortalize the cell line [31]. The HIGKs showed similar cytokeratin expression profile when compared to the parent gingival epithelial cells.…”