Cell lines and propagation

Three cell lines were utilized in this study [human hepatocellular cancer cell line (HepG-2) cells, human leukemia cancer cell line (K-562) cells, and normal human lung fibroblast cells (MRC-5)] and all were acquired from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Rockville, MD). HepG-2 and K-562 cells were grown in Rosewell Park Memorial institute medium (RPMI-1640) (Sigma Aldrich, USA) supplemented with 50 µg/ml gentamycin and 10% inactivated fetal calf serum. The cells were kept at 37ºC in a humidified atmosphere with 5% CO₂ and were sub-cultured two to three times a week (Cruz et al. 2020; dos Santos et al. 2020). On the other hand, MRC-5 cells were propagated in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) (Sigma Aldrich, USA) containing 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum, HEPES buffer (4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid), 1% L-glutamine, and 50 µg/ml gentamycin. All cells were kept at 37ºC in a humidified atmosphere with 5% CO₂ and were sub-cultured two times a week (Hall et al. 2021).