Establishment of a human hepatocyte line that supports in vitro development of the exo-erythrocytic stages of the malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax.

Our understanding of the biology of malaria parasite liver stages is limited because of the lack of efficient in vitro systems that support the exo-erythrocytic (EE) development of the parasite. We report the development of a new hepatocyte line (HC-04) from normal human liver cells. The HC-04 cells have proliferated in hormone-free medium for more than 200 passages.