Use of human derived liver cells for the detection of genotoxins in comet assays

One of the problems of in vitro genotoxicity testing is the inadequate representation of drug metabolizing enzymes in indicator cells which are currently used. An alternative are human derived liver cell lines which retained the activities of enzymes that catalyze the activation and detoxification of genotoxins. Several cell lines were identified which were used in comet experiments. The most frequently employed line is HepG2, i.e. more than 400 individual compounds have been tested; furthermore, it was also used for the detection of combined effects in mixtures as drug metabolizing and antioxidant enzymes are represented in inducible form. One of the shortcomings of these cells are the strong inter-laboratory variation of the results. Recently it was postulated that HepaRG cells are an ideal model for human liver studies, but comet experiments were only partly successful and failed to detect genotoxins such as cadmium chloride, styrene and etoposide, as well as compounds that require activation via N-actetyltransferases (IQ, 2,4-DAT, 2-AAF). Furthermore, these cells are relatively insensitive towards ROS. Hep3B cells were used in a few studies but failed to detect representatives of important genotoxic carcinogens (AFB1, B(a)P, NDMA, IQ, PhiP), the line HCC1.1 was sensitive towards these chemicals but possesses an instable karyotype and a mutated p53. A more promising line is Huh6, but further validation of the usefulness for routine testing is needed. Recent developments which may lead to a better metabolic capacity of liver cells include improvement of the growth conditions (e.g. increase of serum levels, use of differentiated cells and of 3D-cultures), use of differentiated stem cells with hepatocyte like characteristics or of transformed proliferating hepatocytes.