Peroxisomal abnormalities in the immortalized human hepatocyte (IHH) cell line.
Femke C C Klouwer, Janet Koster, Sacha Ferdinandusse, Hans R Waterham
Author Information
Femke C C Klouwer: Laboratory Genetic Metabolic Diseases, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Janet Koster: Laboratory Genetic Metabolic Diseases, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Sacha Ferdinandusse: Laboratory Genetic Metabolic Diseases, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Hans R Waterham: Laboratory Genetic Metabolic Diseases, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. h.r.waterham@amc.uva.nl.
The immortalized human hepatocyte (IHH) cell line is increasingly used for studies related to liver metabolism, including hepatic glucose, lipid, lipoprotein and triglyceride metabolism, and the effect of therapeutic interventions. To determine whether the IHH cell line is a good model to investigate hepatic peroxisomal metabolism, we measured several peroxisomal parameters in IHH cells and, for comparison, HepG2 cells and primary skin fibroblasts. This revealed a marked plasmalogen deficiency and a deficient fatty acid α-oxidation in the IHH cells, due to a defect of PEX7, a cytosolic receptor protein required for peroxisomal import of a subset of peroxisomal proteins. These abnormalities have consequences for the lipid homeostasis of these cells and thus should be taken into account for the interpretation of data previously generated by using this cell line and when considering using this cell line for future research.
