The HOXC13 Knockout SK-HEP-1 Polyclonal Cells are a CRISPR/Cas9-edited polyclonal cell population generated from the human hepatocellular carcinoma line SK-HEP-1 by targeted disruption of the HOXC13 gene. This polyclonal knockout pool provides a heterogeneous loss-of-function model for studying HOXC13-dependent processes without clonal selection, making it suitable for functional genomics and phenotypic screening.
The parental SK-HEP-1 cell line is an adherent, epithelial-like line derived from ascites of a liver adenocarcinoma patient. It serves as a widely used model for hepatocellular carcinoma biology, including tumor cell proliferation, migration, and drug testing, and retains key features of hepatic sinusoidal endothelial-derived cancer cells.
HOXC13 is a homeobox transcription factor that controls cell differentiation, proliferation, and migration, and is critical for hair follicle and nail development. In cancer, it is activated by Wnt ligands (Wnt3a, Wnt5a) through ??-catenin/TCF-LEF and by TGF-??1?CSMAD2/3 signaling. HOXC13 transcriptionally regulates keratin genes (KRT85, KRT35), cell cycle regulators (CCND1), and EMT effectors such as SNAI1, MMP2, and MMP9. It interacts with cofactors PBX1, MEIS1, and CBP/p300, integrating signals from Wnt, TGF-??, and EGF pathways to modulate epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
In the SK-HEP-1 background, HOXC13 knockout is expected to downregulate targets driving proliferation, migration, and invasion, thereby attenuating oncogenic signaling. This polyclonal model enables investigation of HOXC13??s role in Wnt/??-catenin and TGF-?? pathway crosstalk, EMT regulation, and hepatocellular carcinoma progression, while preserving population-level heterogeneity for robust phenotypic analysis.
These cells are compatible with diverse downstream assays, including RNA-seq and RT-qPCR for transcriptomic profiling, Western blotting for protein validation, ChIP-qPCR for target gene occupancy, and flow cytometry for cell cycle and apoptosis analyses. Transwell migration and invasion assays, MTS/BrdU proliferation assays, and immunofluorescence for EMT markers allow functional characterization of HOXC13 loss. They are also suited for luciferase reporter studies of Wnt pathway activity and drug target validation. For further information, contact Ascent Research.
