HCT116 (ATCC® CCL-247™) is a human colorectal carcinoma cell line initiated from an adult male. The cells are adherent with an epithelial morphology. Following implantation into immunocompromised mice, the cells form primary tumors and distant metastases.

Route of Implantation	Mice	Tumor/Metastases	References
Intrasplenic	Nude	Liver metastases	Cui et al. (2014) Cancer Cell Interation 14: 47.
Tail-vein	Nude	Lung metastases	Gao et al. (2015) Oncogene 34: 4142-4152.
Tail-vein	SCID	Lung metastases	Zhou et al. (2016) BMC Cancer 16: 55.
Subcutaneous	Nude	Subcutaneous tumor	Gao et al. (2015) Oncogene 34: 4142-4152.
Intracaecum	Nude	Caecal tumors, lung, liver, and lymph node metastases	Yang et al. (1997) Anticancer Res 17: 3463-3468.

Note: The above information is based on available data from the indicated references. It is not meant to be comprehensive and Imanis has not directly tested each condition.

Our HCT116 reporter cell lines can be tracked in vivo, making them great tools for studying the mechanisms of tumor growth and metastasis, as well as evaluating the effects of various drugs or therapies in animals. Our HCT116 cells are available with a variety of different reporters, including the human sodium iodide symporter (hNIS), firefly luciferase (Fluc), enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP), or near-infrared fluorescent protein (iRFP). Several dual reporter HCT116 cell lines are available to facilitate multi-modality imaging.

In order to ensure high, constitutive expression of the reporter proteins, our cell lines are generated by lentivirus transduction. The lentivirus vectors used for these transductions are self-inactivating (SIN) vectors in which the viral enhancer and promoter has been deleted. This increases the biosafety of the lentiviruses by preventing mobilization of replication competent viruses (Miyoshi et al., J Virol. 1998).  

For more information about a specific reporter and its uses, click on the photos below.