title: Presence of side-population cells in an immortalized nontumorigenic human liver epithelial cell line.
abstract: Side-population (SP) cells have been shown to be highly enriched stem cells. We investigated whether an immortalized, nontumorigenic human liver cell line, THLE-5b, contains SP cells. Flow cytometry analysis after Hoechst 33342 staining demonstrated that the THLE-5b line contained a small component of SP cells. These SP cells were essentially eliminated by treatment with verapamil and expressed higher levels of ABCG2 mRNA than non-SP cells. In addition, the level of these SP cells detected by Hoechst 33342 staining was affected by the experimental conditions including the incubation medium. This is the first report of the presence of SP cells in the immortalized, nontumorigenic human liver cell line.
authors.affiliation: Department of Liver Cell Biology, Kohno Clinical Medicine Research Institute, 1-28-15 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Taisuke
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamazaki
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Enosawa
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsukiyama
authors.forename: Takayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tokiwa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001562:Benzimidazoles / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001562:Benzimidazoles; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; C017807:bisbenzimide ethoxide trihydrochloride