I am perplexed as to why HEK cells are so widely used as a viral vector production cell line? (To the point that there are even further specialized cell lines developed based on HEK, like for example, 293FT from Thermofisher or Lenti-X from Takara Bio).
Is there a reason as to why this cell is specifically chosen? Could it be the ease of transfection or better packaging systems or faster growth rate??
And why aren't other cell lines, such as HeLa cell, used as well? From what I know, HeLa should be able to grow very fast and produce a lot of virus right? What is the reason for why its not as widely used as HEK?
Hello Settanan Plangsiri
HEK293 is commonly used in the production of viral vectors such as production of adenoviral and adeno-associated viral vectors due to presence of the adenoviral E1A/B genes which provide helper functions during viral vector production.
In retroviral vector production, HEK293T is used due to the expression of the SV40 large T-antigen in the cell line. Expression of the T-antigen allows plasmids which carry the SV40 origin of replication to undergo replication when transfected into the cell. The expression of the large T-antigen improve lentiviral vector production. However, the improved viral titers in HEK293T were not completely attributed to the effect of T-antigen on plasmid replication or transcriptional activity, suggesting that there are other indirect effects and characteristics of this cell line which enables high-titer retroviral vector production.
Please refer to the article attached below.
Article HEK293 Cell Line as a Platform to Produce Recombinant Protei...
Best.
Malcolm Nobre Thank you so much for your answer, Malcolm!
I have one continuous question. What if we could make, for example, HeLa cell express E1A/B and SV40 large T-antigen, would that cause viral titers to increase?
But in the end, it will still be inferior to 293 HEK Cell anyway right?
Yes. As I mentioned, there are other indirect effects and characteristics of this cell line (HEK293)which enables high-titer retroviral vector production.
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