Characterization of lipoproteins produced by the human liver cell line, Hep G2, under defined conditions

Confluent monolayers of the human hepatoblastoma-derived cell line, Hep G2, were incubated in serum-free medium. Conditioned medium was ultracentrifugally separated into d less than 1.063 g/ml and d 1.063-1.20 g/ml fractions since very little VLDL was observed. The d less than 1.063 g/ml fraction was examined by electron microscopy; it contained particles of 24.5 +/- 2.3 nm diameter, similar in size to plasma LDL; a similar size was demonstrated by nondenaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. These particles possessed apoB-100 only. The d less than 1.063 g/ml fraction had a lipid composition unlike that of plasma LDL; unesterified cholesterol was elevated, there was relatively little cholesteryl ester, and triglyceride was the major core lipid. The d 1.063-1.20 g/ml fraction was heterogeneous in size and morphology. Electron microscopy revealed discoidal particles (14.9 +/- 3.2 nm long axis and 4.5 +/- 0.2 nm short axis) as well as small spherical ones (7.6 +/- 1.4 nm diameter). Nondenaturing gradient gel electrophoresis consistently showed the presence of peaks at 13.4 11.9, 9.7, and 7.4 nm. The latter peak was conspicuous and probably corresponded to the small spherical structures seen by electron microscopy. Unlike plasma HDL, Hep G2 d 1.063-1.20 g/ml lipoproteins contained little or no stainable material in the (HDL3a)gge region by gradient gel electrophoresis. Hep G2 d 1.063-1.20 g/ml lipoproteins differed significantly in composition from their plasma counterparts; unesterified cholesterol and phospholipid were elevated and the mole ratio of unesterified cholesterol to phospholipid was 0.8. Cholesteryl ester content was extremely low. ApoA-I was the major apolipoprotein, while apoE was the next most abundant protein; small quantities of apoA-II and apoCs were also present. Immunoblot analysis of the d 1.063-1.20 g/ml fraction after gradient gel electrophoresis showed that apoE was localized in the larger pore region of the gel (apparent diameter greater than 12.2 nm); the apoA-I distribution in this fraction was very broad (7.1-12.2 nm), and included a distinct band at 7.4 nm. Immunoblotting after gradient gel electrophoresis of concentrated medium revealed that a significant fraction of apoA-I in the uncentrifuged medium was in a lipid-poor or lipid-free form. This cell line may be a useful model for investigating the metabolism of newly formed HDL.