TY - JOUR
T1 - Immortalization of Swine Tracheal Epithelial Cells with Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase
AU - Zhang, Yan-Ming AU - Chen, Bao-Yu AU - Guo, Kang-Kang AU - Wang, Jin-Jin AU - He, Lei
JO - Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances
VL - 12
IS - 11
SP - 1032
EP - 1037
PY - 2013
DA - 2001/08/19
SN - 1680-5593
DO - javaa.2013.1032.1037
UR - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=javaa.2013.1032.1037
KW - hTERT
KW -immortalization
KW -lipofectamine
KW -STECs
KW -transfection
AB - The tracheal epithelium is an important barrier that protects
against harmful inhaled substances. To facilitate understanding of the mechanisms
underlying respiratory diseases including tracheal cancer and tracheitis, researchers
established an immortalized tracheal epithelial cell line. Primary cultures
of Swine Tracheal Epithelial Cells (STECs) were immortalized by transfection
of human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (hTERT; pCI-neo-hTERT) using lipofection.
Positive cells were selected with G418 and expanded for continuous culture for
up to 60 passages. The expression of hTERT mRNA in transfected cells was detected
by RT-PCR. Transfected cells were assessed for morphology, karyotype, growth
in soft agar and tumorigenicity in nude mice. Immortalized cells showed similar
properties to those of normal cells such as contact inhibition, serum requirement
and anchorage dependence. A soft agar assay and karyotype analysis showed no
neoplastic transformation. These results suggest that immortalized STECs induced
by the hTERT gene retain their original characteristics. The immortal
STEC line may be useful as an in vitro model of tracheal epithelium for
physiological, pathological and pharmacological investigations.
ER -