Hepatic stellate cells are a major cell type responsible for liver fibrosis following their activation into fibrogenic myofibroblast-like cells in diseases such as chronic alcoholism, hepatitis B and C, fatty liver disease, obesity and diabetes. There is an increasing need for renewable cell culture models that faithfully recapitulate their in vivo phenotype, particularly for human studies.LX-2 was generated by immmortalization of primary human hepatic stellate cells with the SV40 large T antigen followed by selective culture of early passaged cells in low serum media conditions. Immortalized LX-2 was established by Xu et al to overcome issues of culture variability and to provide a stable and unlimited source of human hepatic stellate cells that are homogeneous. These cell lines have been extensively characterized and retain key features of cytokine signaling, neuronal gene expression, retinoid metabolism, and fibrogenesis, making them highly suitable for culture based studies of human hepatic fibrosis.
Synonyms: HSC, Perisinusoidal cells, Ito cells, Hepatic lipocytes, Hepatic pericytes
Application: Research CategoryInfectious DiseasesInflammation & ImmunologyStem Cell Research