Table 1.

Overview of cell lines most commonly used to study SARS-CoV-2.

Cell Lines	Origin	Characteristics	ACE2 Expression	Reference
Vero E6	Kidney epithelial cells extracted from African green monkey (Chlorocebus sp.)	Interferon-deficient (do not secrete IFNα or IFNβ when infected by viruses), non-tumorigenic, pseudodiploid karyotypes	+++	[36,37]
Calu-3	Human lung adenocarcinoma	Epithelial cells	+	[36]
A549	Human lung adenocarcinoma	Epithelium-like, hypotriproid, synthesizes comparably large amounts of lecithin	−	[37,38]
Caco-2	Human colorectal adenocarcinoma	Epithelium-like, upon reaching confluence, the cells express characteristics of enterocytic differentiation; express heat stable enterotoxin and epidermal growth factor	++	[36]
HEK-293T	Human embryonic kidney	Epithelial cells, highly transfectable, contains the SV40 T-antigen, widely used for retroviral production, gene expression and protein production	−	[39]
Huh-7	Human hepatocellular carcinoma	Epithelial cells, tumorigenic	+	[37]

The symbols indicate high (+++), moderate (++), mild (+) and low (−) applicability.