THP-1 is a human

monocytic Monocytes are a type of leukocyte or white blood cell. They are the largest type of leukocyte in blood and can differentiate into macrophages and monocyte-derived dendritic cells. As a part of the vertebrate innate immune system monocytes also i ...

cell line An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism that would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cells ...

derived from an

acute monocytic leukemia Acute monocytic leukemia (AMoL, or AML-M5) is a type of acute myeloid leukemia. In AML-M5 >80% of the leukemic cells are of monocytic lineage. This cancer is characterized by a dominance of monocytes in the bone marrow. There is an overproduction ...

patient. It is used to test

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

cell lines in immunocytochemical analysis of protein-protein interactions, and

immunohistochemistry Immunohistochemistry is a form of immunostaining. It involves the process of selectively identifying antigens in cells and tissue, by exploiting the principle of Antibody, antibodies binding specifically to antigens in biological tissues. Alber ...

Characteristics

Although THP-1 cells are of the same lineage, mutations can cause differences as the progeny proliferates. In general, THP-1 cells exhibit a large, round, single-cell morphology. The cells were derived from the peripheral blood of a 1-year-old human male with acute monocytic leukemia. Some of their characteristics are: * Expression of

Fc receptor In immunology, an Fc receptor is a protein found on the surface of certain cells – including, among others, B lymphocytes, follicular dendritic cells, natural killer cells, macrophages, neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, human platele ...

and

C3b receptor C3b is the larger of two elements formed by the cleavage of complement component 3, and is considered an important part of the innate immune system. C3b is potent in opsonization: tagging pathogens, immune complexes (antigen-antibody), and apoptoti ...

s while lacking surface and cytoplasmic

immunoglobulin An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as pathogenic bacteria, bacteria and viruses, includin ...

s. * Production of IL-1. * Positive detection of alpha-naphthyl butyrate esterase and

lysozyme Lysozyme (, muramidase, ''N''-acetylmuramide glycanhydrolase; systematic name peptidoglycan ''N''-acetylmuramoylhydrolase) is an antimicrobial enzyme produced by animals that forms part of the innate immune system. It is a glycoside hydrolase ...

s *

Phagocytic Phagocytosis () is the process by which a cell (biology), cell uses its plasma membrane to engulf a large particle (≥ 0.5 μm), giving rise to an internal compartment called the phagosome. It is one type of endocytosis. A cell that performs ph ...

physiology (both for latex beads and sensitized erythrocytes). * Restoration of the response of purified

T lymphocytes T cells (also known as T lymphocytes) are an important part of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell (leukoc ...

Con A Concanavalin A (ConA) is a lectin (carbohydrate-binding protein) originally extracted from the jack-bean (''Canavalia ensiformis''). It is a member of the legume lectin family. It binds specifically to certain structures found in various sugar ...

. * Increased CO₂ production on phagocytosis and differentiation into macrophage-like cells * Polarization into the M1 phenotype by incubation with IFN-γ and LPS, or to the M2 phenotype by incubation with interleukin 4 and interleukin 13 * Differentiation into immature dendritic cells, using recombinant human interleukin 4 (rhIL-4) and recombinant human granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF), and mature dendritic cells using rhIL-4, rhGM-CSF, recombinant human tumour necrotic factor α (rhTNF-α) and Ionomycin. * The

HLA type The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system is a complex of genes on chromosome 6 in humans that encode cell-surface proteins responsible for regulation of the immune system. The HLA system is also known as the human version of the major histoco ...

for THP-1 is HLA-A*02:01; A*24:02; B*15:11; B*35:01; C*03:03; DRB1*01:01; DRB1*15:01; DQB1*05:01; DQB1*06:02; DPB1*02:01; DPB1*04:02 (in the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ) cell bank). This HLA type can change depending on the reference biorepository, due to loss of heterozygosity in multiple chromosomal regions, as THP-1 from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) do not express the HLA-A*24:02 and B*35:01 alleles.

Growth Information

THP-1 can provide continuous culture when grown in suspension; RPMI 1640 + 10% FBS + 2mM L-Glutamine. The average doubling time is 19 to 50 hours. 1 mM sodium pyruvate, penicillin (100 units/ml) and streptomycin (100 μg/ml) are also commonly added to inhibit bacterial contamination. Cultures should be maintained at cell densities in the range 2-9x10⁵ cells/ml at 37 °C, 5% CO₂. Cells are non-adherent.

Hazards

THP-1 cells are of human origin, and no evidence has been found for the presence of infectious viruses or toxic products. The ATCC Biosafety recommendation is level 1.

Research applications

THP-1 cells are used as a models to study the monocyte-macrophage differentiation process, antigen presentation and as a model to examine some macrophage-related physiological processes, for example the macrophage cholesterol efflux.

References

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External links

Cellosaurus entry for THP-1
Hematology Human cell lines