Primary ectocervical epithelial cells display lower permissivity to Chlamydia trachomatis than HeLa cells and a globally higher pro-inflammatory profile.

ABSTRACT: The tumoral origin and extensive passaging of HeLa cells, a most commonly used cervical epithelial cell line, raise concerns on their suitability to study the cell responses to infection. The present study was designed to isolate primary epithelial cells from human ectocervix explants and characterize their susceptibility to C. trachomatis infection. We achieved a high purity of isolation, assessed by the expression of E-cadherin and cytokeratin 14. The infectious progeny in these primary epithelial cells was lower than in HeLa cells. We showed that the difference in culture medium, and the addition of serum in HeLa cultures, accounted for a large part of these differences. However, all things considered the primary ectocervical epithelial cells remained less permissive than HeLa cells to

SUBMITTER: Tang C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7955086 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature