Jurkat cells are an immortalized line of T lymphocyte cells that are used to study acute T cell leukemia, T cell signaling, and the expression of various chemokine receptors susceptible to viral entry, particularly HIV. Jurkat cells are also useful in science because of their ability to produce interleukin 2. Their primary use, however, is to determine the mechanism of differential susceptibility of cancers to drugs and radiation. The Jurkat cell line (originally called JM) was established in the late 1970s from the peripheral blood of a 14 year old boy with T cell leukemia.Different derivatives of the Jurkat cell line can now be obtained from cell culture banks that have been mutated to lack certain genes.
 
Cell Line Origin
Human leukaemic T cell lymphoblast