BHK cell

BHK cell

Baby hamster kidney cell. An established diploid cell line descended from a clone (Clone 13) isolated by Stoker and McPherson from a rapidly growing primary culture of newborn Syrian hamster kidney tissue. BHK-21 cells are susceptible to human adenovirus D, reovirus 3 and vesicular stomatitis virus, and used for transformation and transfection. BHK cells are often described as fibroblastic, but also smooth muscle-like in that they express the muscle intermediate filament protein desmin; widely used as a viral host in studies of oncogenic transformation and cell physiology.