Expression of genes of ferritin subunits in human hepatoma cell lines.

The expression of ferritin genes has been studied in two well differentiated hepatoma cell lines, HepG2 and Hep3B, and in an undifferentiated cell line, HepPLC/PRF/5. The steady-state level of the H and L ferritin subunit mRNAs is different in the three cell lines, being most abundant in the HepG2 and Hep3B cells. The efficiency of promotion of transcription of the H and L gene promoters is not correlated with the levels of the two transcripts; moreover the half-life of the H and L mRNAs varies among the hepatoma cells. The different level of ferritin mRNAs in differentiated and undifferentiated cells appears to be mainly due to a different stability of the transcripts.