The HeLa cell line is one of the best-characterized and used cell line in biomedical research. We compared the genomic profile of different HeLa batches by chromosome analysis, FISH and array-CGH with the aim to verify their genomic variation. The batches under study were four, and they have been obtained from four different Italian laboratories: two of them derived from the same batch but then they were cultured in two different laboratories for about 8 years, as well as the two other batches, that derived from the same source, but were then cultured in two different laboratories for about 12 years. The results demonstrate that the four different batches analyzed exhibit a time-dependent divergence in chromosome anomalies and rearrangements, with substantial differences in DNA content. Since genomic gains or losses or whole-chromosome aneuploidy can imply drastic consequences in gene expression, we performed whole transcriptome analysis in order to verify the transcriptional effect of the different aneuploidies and rearrangements of our clones. We concluded that the genomic difference is paralleled by a severe alteration of the gene expression profile. Our results highlight that the use of HeLa cells might lead to faulty conclusions and to unreproducible results.
CHARACTERIZATION BY MOLECULAR CYTOGENETICS, ARRAY-CGH AND WHOLE TRANSCRIPTOME ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT BATCHES OF HeLa CELLS: GENOMIC VARIABILITY AND DIVERGENT GENE EXPRESSION
VALLI, ROBERTO;FABBRI, MARCO;MONTALBANO, GIUSEPPE;PASQUALI, FRANCESCO;MASERATI, EMANUELA
2015-01-01
Abstract
The HeLa cell line is one of the best-characterized and used cell line in biomedical research. We compared the genomic profile of different HeLa batches by chromosome analysis, FISH and array-CGH with the aim to verify their genomic variation. The batches under study were four, and they have been obtained from four different Italian laboratories: two of them derived from the same batch but then they were cultured in two different laboratories for about 8 years, as well as the two other batches, that derived from the same source, but were then cultured in two different laboratories for about 12 years. The results demonstrate that the four different batches analyzed exhibit a time-dependent divergence in chromosome anomalies and rearrangements, with substantial differences in DNA content. Since genomic gains or losses or whole-chromosome aneuploidy can imply drastic consequences in gene expression, we performed whole transcriptome analysis in order to verify the transcriptional effect of the different aneuploidies and rearrangements of our clones. We concluded that the genomic difference is paralleled by a severe alteration of the gene expression profile. Our results highlight that the use of HeLa cells might lead to faulty conclusions and to unreproducible results.
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