Immortalization of bovine umbilical vein endothelial cells:: a model for the study of vascular endothelium

Endothelial cells perform a large array of physiological functions that are influenced by their cellular heterogeneity in the different vascular beds. Vein endothelial cells isolated from the umbilical cords are commonly used to study vascular endothelium. Primary cultures of these cells, however, have low proliferative capacity and a limited life span. We have immortalized bovine umbilical vein endothelial cells (BUVEC) by transfection with an expression vector containing the human papillomavirus type 16 E6E7 oncogenes. Expression of E6E7 extended the life span of BUVEC from 40 to more than 120 cell replication cycles with no signs of senescence. Four immortalized clones were isolated and found to maintain endothelial cell properties, such as the uptake of acetylated low density lipoprotein, the expression of the von Willebrand protein, the binding of endothelial cell-specific lectins and proliferative responses to the specific endothelial cell mitogen, vascular endothelial growth factor. Moreover, clone BVE-E6E7-1, like its wild-type counterparts, expressed prolactin mRNA and decreased its proliferation in response to the anti-angiogenic 16-kDa fragment of prolactin. This clone showed little signs of genetic instability as revealed by centrosome and chromosome number analysis. Thus, immortalized E6E7 BUVEC cell lines retain endothelial cell characteristics and could facilitate studies to investigate the action of regulatory factors of vascular endothelium. Moreover, being the first non-human umbilical vein endothelial cell lines, their use should provide insights into the mechanisms governing species-related heterogeneity of endothelial cells.