Cell death in a co-culture of hepatocellular carcinoma cells and human umbilical vascular endothelial cells in a medium lacking glucose and arginine.

Human primary hepatocytes are able to survive in a medium without glucose and arginine that is instead supplemented with galactose and ornithine (hepatocyte selection medium; HSM). This is because the cells produce glucose and arginine by the action of galactokinase (GALK) and ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OTC), respectively. It was expected that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells do not survive in HSM. In the current study, HCC cell lines (namely HLE, HLF, PLC/PRL/5, Hep3B and HepG2) and human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured in HSM, and the expression levels of GALK1, GALK2 and OTC were analyzed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. HLE, HLF and PLC/PRL/5 cells died on day 11, while Hep3B, HepG2 and HUVECs died on day 7. HLF cells were further analyzed as these cells had lower expression levels of GALK1, GALK2 and OTC compared with adult liver cells, and survived until day 11. In these cells, the expression levels of GALK1, GALK2 and OTC did not change on days 3 and 7 as compared to day 0. In addition, a co-culture of HLF cells with HUVECs was established and the medium was changed to HSM. It was observed that HLF cells and HUVECs in co-culture were damaged in HSM. In summary, HCC cells and HUVECs died in a medium without glucose and arginine that was supplemented with galactose and ornithine. HCC cells and HUVECs were damaged in HSM, suggesting a potential application for treatment with the medium.