Review of Research Studies using Lifeline® Cells in 2016

It is the end of the year, so we thought we would take a look back to see how our cells have been used over the past year. Lifeline® provides cells from many organ sites that can be used for experimental manipulation or as normal tissue controls. Below are just a few ways researchers are using our cells. Check out our past blog posts for more studies featuring our cells.

Clinical Isolates of Human Coronavirus 229E Bypass the Endosome for Cell Entry. In this study, Shirato et al. used Lifeline® human bronchial/tracheal epithelial cells to generate human airway epithelial cultures using an air-liquid interface. They used this in vitro model to study how coronavirus infects airway epithelial cells.

Induction of PSMA and Internalization of an Anti-PSMA mAb in the Vascular Compartment. Here, Nguyen and colleagues treated Lifeline® human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), grown as tubes on Matrigel with conditioned medium from cancer cells. They evaluated the ability of HUVECs to respond to cancer cell conditioned medium by producing prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a marker found in tumor vasculature and a target for cancer therapy.

USF prompt melanoma through upregulating TGF-b signaling pathway. In this study, Ren et al. use Lifeline® normal human melanocytes as control cells to determine the role of upstream stimulatory family 1 (USF1), a transcription factor, in melanoma. They found USF1 overexpression induces TGF-b and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in melanoma cells.

Endothelial cells can regulate smooth muscle cells in contractile phenotype through the miR-206/ARF6&NCX1/Exosome Axis. Lin et al. used Lifeline® human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) to investigate crosstalk between smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells in the vascular system. They found that HUVECs secrete exosomes that directly act on nearby HASMCs and modulate their contractile phenotype in a miR-206-dependent manner.

Polychlorinated biphenyl exposure alters the expression profile of microRNAs associated with vascular diseases. This study by Wahlang et al. uses Lifeline® HUVECs to assess the effects of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) on endothelial miRNA expression. They found that altered expression of certain miRNAs might help explain the mechanism by which PCBs exert their toxicity.

Hydrogen sulfide metabolism regulates endothelial solute barrier function. In this manuscript by Yuan et al., the researchers used Lifeline® HUVECs to determine the effects of hydrogen sulfide on endothelial cells and found that hydrogen sulfide treatment increased endothelial cell permeability in vitro.

High cut-off dialysis in chronic haemodialysis patients reduces serum procalcific activity. Here, Zickler et al. used Lifeline® human coronary artery smooth muscle cells to test the level of calcification induced following exposure to serum samples from chronic dialysis patients utilizing a new High Cut-off membrane compared to those using conventional membranes.

Mitochondrial respiration is sensitive to cytoarchitectural breakdown. Kandel and colleagues investigated how cytoskeletal disruptions affect mitochondrial function. Using Lifeline® dermal fibroblasts, they found that cytoskeletal toxins significantly decreased mitochondrial respiratory function.

An Intrinsically Disordered Motif Mediates Diverse Actions of Monomeric C-reactive Protein. In this study, Li et al. used Lifeline® human aortic endothelial cells and structural studies to determine how C-reactive protein (CRP) mediates its inflammatory effects. They found that the cholesterol binding sequence (CBS) peptide inhibited the pro-inflammatory effects of CRP in vitro and in vivo.

Thank you for a great year! Please share your research with us and your study could be featured here on our blog!