of a homogeneous population of a single cell type and can divide up to 100 times before dying. Despite the numerous divisions, these cells retain the diploid chromosome number. The most widely used diploid cells are those established from human embryos, such as the WI-38 strain derived from human embryonic lung.
Figure 2.2 Different types of cell culture used in virology. Confluent cell monolayers photographed by low-power light microscopy. (A) Primary human foreskin fibroblasts; (B) established line of mouse fibroblasts (3T3); (C) continuous line of human epithelial cells (HeLa [Box 2.3]). The ability of transformed HeLa cells to overgrow one another is the result of a loss of contact inhibition. Courtesy of R. Gonzalez, Princeton University.
Continuous cell lines consist of a single cell type that can be propagated indefinitely in culture. These immortal lines are usually derived from tumor tissue or by treating a primary cell culture or a diploid strain with a mutagenic chemical or an oncogene. Such cell lines often do not resemble the cell of origin; they are less differentiated (having lost the morphology and biochemical features that they possessed in the organ), are often abnormal in chromosome morphology and number (aneuploid), and can be tumorigenic (i.e., they produce tumors when inoculated into immunodeficient mice). Examples of commonly used continuous cell lines include those derived from human carcinomas (e.g., HeLa [Henrietta Lacks] cells [Box 2.2]) and from mice (e.g., L and 3T3 cells). Continuous cell lines provide a uniform population of cells that can be infected synchronously for growth curve analysis (see “The One-Step Growth Cycle” below) or biochemical studies of virus replication.
In contrast to cells that grow in monolayers on plastic dishes, others can be maintained in suspension cultures, in which a spinning magnet continuously stirs the cells. The advantage of suspension culture is that a large number of cells can be grown in a relatively small volume. This culture method is well suited for applications that require large quantities of virus particles, such as X-ray crystallography or production of vectors.
Despite the wide utility of monolayer and suspension cell cultures in virology, they are not without limitations, including the finite life span of primary cell cultures and the abnormal phenotype of continuous cell lines, such as immortality. These problems can be overcome by the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are adult cells that have been reprogrammed genetically to an embryonic stem-cell like state by the introduction of four genes (Oct4, Sox2, Kif4, and cMyc). They are most commonly made from human fibroblasts, although other cell types have been used. Such iPSCs can be differentiated into many different cell types, such as cardiomyocytes, neurons, and hepatocytes, by treatment with specific growth factors. Viral reproduction can be studied in specific human cell types using cells derived from iPSCs.
BACKGROUND
The cells of Henrietta Lacks
The most widely used continuous cell line in virology, the HeLa cell line, was derived from Henrietta Lacks. In 1951, the 31-year-old mother of five visited a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and was found to have a malignant tumor of the cervix. A sample of the tumor was taken and given to George Gey, head of tissue culture research at Hopkins. Gey had been attempting for years, without success, to produce a line of human cells that would live indefinitely. When placed in culture, Henrietta Lacks’ cells propagated as no other cells had before.
On the day in October that Henrietta Lacks died, Gey appeared on national television with a vial of her cells, which he called HeLa cells. He said, “It is possible that, from a fundamental study such as this, we will be able to learn a way by which cancer can be completely wiped out.” Soon after, HeLa cells were used to propagate poliovirus, which was causing poliomyelitis throughout the world, and they played an important role in the development of poliovirus vaccines. Henrietta Lacks’ HeLa cells started a medical revolution: not only was it possible to propagate many different viruses in these cells, but the work set a precedent for producing continuous cell lines from many human tissues. However, the family of Henrietta Lacks did not learn about HeLa cells, or the revolution they started, until 24 years after her death. Her family members were shocked that cells from Henrietta lived in so many laboratories and that they had not been told that any cells had been taken from her.
The story of HeLa cells is an indictment of the lack of informed consent that pervaded medical research in the 1950s. Since then, biomedical ethics have changed, and there are now strict regulations in clinical research: physicians may not take samples for research from patients without permission. Nevertheless, in early 2013, HeLa cells generated more controversy when a research group published the cells’ genome sequence. The Lacks family objected to the publication, claiming that the information could reveal private medical information about surviving family members. As a result, the sequence was withdrawn from public databases. Months later, a second HeLa cell genome sequence was published, but this time the authors were bound by an agreement brokered by the National Institutes of Health, which required an application process for any individual wishing to view the sequence.
Adey A, Burton JN, Kitzman JO, Hiatt JB, Lewis AP, Martin BK, Qiu R, Lee C, Shendure J. 2013. The haplotype-resolved genome and epigenome of the aneuploid HeLa cancer cell line. Nature 500:207–211.
Callaway E. 2013. Deal done over HeLa cell line. Nature 500:132–133.
Callaway E. 23 March 2013. HeLa publication brews bioethical storm. Nature. https://www.nature.com/news/hela-publication-brews-bioethical-storm-1.12689.
Skloot R. April 2000. Henrietta’s dance. Johns Hopkins Magazine. http://pages.jh.edu/∼jhumag/0400web/01.html.
Skloot R. 2011. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Broadway Books, New York, NY.
EXPERIMENTS
Zika virus blocks the neuronal road
Zika virus infection during pregnancy is a cause of the human birth defect called microcephaly. Babies born with this defect have smaller heads than expected for their age and smaller brains that do not develop normally. Organotypic brain slice cultures from embryonic mice have been used to study the effect of Zika virus on brain development.
To produce organotypic embryonic brain slice cultures, fetal mouse brains were removed, embedded in low-melting-point agarose, and thinly sliced with a vibratome. The slices were placed in cortical culture medium and then infected with Zika virus.
When first- and second-trimester brain slice cultures were infected with different isolates of Zika virus from 1947 to 2016, reproduction was observed as determined by plaque assay. These findings demonstrate that neurotropism of Zika virus is not a recently acquired phenotype.
