Objective:To establish tetracycline-controlled inducible system (Tet-on) in HepG2 cell for further research of the function of related gens.
Methods :The HepG2 cells were transfected with pWHE146 vector by using liposome transfection reagent. The transfected cells were selected in medium containing G418, and G418-resistant clones were isolated. All individual G418-resistant clones were screened by transient transfection with plasmid pTRE-hyg-luc for clones with low background and high induction of luciferase in response to Dox.
Results:One HepG2 cell line, which exhibited high levels of induction（154,106 times）and high gene expression levels, was obtained.
Conclusions:The HepG2 cell line can be used to highly express eukaryotic gene and this Tet-on system is available for use in eukaryotic gene function studies.