title: Type I and type II interferon responses in two human liver cell lines (Huh-7 and HuH6).
abstract: Most studies investigating the biology of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) have used the human hepatoma cell line Huh-7 or subclones thereof, as these are the most permissive cell lines for HCV infection and replication. Other cell lines also support replication of HCV, most notably the human hepatoblastoma cell line HuH6. HCV replication in cell culture is generally highly sensitive to interferons (IFNs) and differences in the IFN-mediated inhibition of virus replication may reflect alterations in the IFN-induced antiviral response inherent to different host cells. For example, HCV replication is highly sensitive to IFN-γ treatment in Huh-7, but not in HuH6 cells. In this study, we used microarray-based gene expression profiling to compare the response of Huh-7 and HuH6 cells to stimulation with IFN-α and IFN-γ. Furthermore, we determined whether the resistance of HCV replication in HuH6 cells can be linked to differences in the expression profile of IFN-regulated genes. Although both cells lines responded to IFNs with rapid changes in gene expression, thereby demonstrating functional type I and type II signaling pathways, differences were observed for a number of genes. Raw and normalized expression data have been deposited in GEO under accession number GSE68927.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Molecular Virology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Grünvogel
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Molecular Virology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Esser-Nobis
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Molecular Virology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Marc P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Windisch
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Molecular Virology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frese
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Centre, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trippler
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Molecular Virology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; Division Virus-associated carcinogenesis (F170), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bartenschlager
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Molecular Virology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lohmann
authors.affiliation: Research Group "Dynamics of early viral infection and the innate antiviral response", Division Virus-associated carcinogenesis (F170), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Binder
keywords: Gene expression profile; HuH6; Huh-7; IFN-α; IFN-γ; Interferon