HEC-1 cells: Establishment of an in vitro experimental system in endometrial carcinoma

The HEC-1 cell line was the first in vitro cell line of a human endometrial adenocarcinoma, which enabled us to perform research work on the endometrium and endometrial carcinoma at the level of a simplified cellular system; contributing to cell and molecular biological studies on endometrial carcinoma. Once a cell line is established, it provides a stable experimental system that facilitates and progresses the study of the tissues and/or neoplasias from which the cell line is derived. In this article, we report how HEC-1 cells have been established and cleared the proposed requirements to characterize an established cell line. in addition, in order to demonstrate the usefulness of the cell lines for research work once they have been established, we illustrate these concepts by recalling results obtained with HEC-1 and the HEC family of endometrial carcinoma cells and review the literature with regard to what has been achieved by using these cells.