THP1 is the famous monocyte cell line, however which is hard to be transfected.
Are there any other cell lines which is similar with THP1 and easier to be transfected?
Hi,
You could use as an alternative U937 which is a (pro-)monocytic cell line which presents many characteristics of monocytes and are fairly easy to manipulate as nearly an unlimited number of cells can be prepared and they are quite uniform.
However I'm not sure if the transfection proceedure is easier than in THP1. A colleage from my institution was able to transfect them by using lipofectamin 3000. Their transfection efficency was not incredibly high but they were able to select some stable colonies and expand them.
As long as I know from literature, a very efficient way would be by electroporation, so if you have the equipment you could go for it .
Hope it helps!!!
U937 cells are suitable option for THP-1 cells.
Both are monocytes in nature and can differentiate into macrophage upon stimulation.....
U937 can be transfected also.
But if your purpose is to study some lipid compounds (cholesterol or oxLDL) effect on such cells please go through extensive literature survey as there is change in expression of Scavenger receptors and reacting to the ROS (reactive oxygen species).
The most efficient way to transfect THP-1 is by electroporation . You can use lipofectamine etc but these tend to activate the cells. Even with electroporation, you will only get 10-20% transfected as maximum. Also be aware that if you try to make stable cell lines, haematopoietic cells such as THP-1 silence or inactivate CMV promoters after a few days, so plasmids such as pcDNA3.1 are no use for long term stables.
- Badges
- Science method