Immortalized bone-marrow derived pig endothelial cells.

Primary cultures of porcine endothelial cells (EC) can only be maintained for a limited number of passages. To facilitate studies of xenogeneic human anti-pig immune responses in vitro, pig microvascular bone-marrow (BM) and macrovascular aortic EC were obtained from our herd of partially inbred miniature swine, homozygous for the major histocompatibility locus, and immortalized with a modified SV40 large T vector. The resulting BM-derived (2A2) and aortic (PEDSV.15) immortalized EC lines showed unlimited growth and EC phenotype as indicated by expression of von Willebrand Factor (vWF) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors as well as by formation of typical cobblestone monolayers. Ultrastructural studies revealed morphological similarities in primary and immortalized EC. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated constitutive SLA class I expression by all lines whereas SLA class II was only expressed after stimulation with porcine IFNgamma. Furthermore, pig CD34 mRNA was detected by Northern blot analysis in primary and immortalized aortic EC but not in 2A2. Both EC lines expressed a number of myeloid markers, adhesion molecules and xenoantigens, the latter being determined by binding of human natural antibodies. Gene transfer into the porcine EC lines was successfully performed by electroporation or calcium-phosphate transfection, as well as by adenoviral infection. Finally, the functional similarity between primary and immortalized EC was demonstrated in adhesion and cytotoxicity assays. Together, these results suggest that 2A2 and PEDSV. 15 represent valuable tools to study both human cellular and humoral immune responses in vitro against pig EC derived from microvascular and large vessels.