Progenitor cell line (hPheo1) derived from a human pheochromocytoma tumor.

Background: Pheochromocytomas are rare tumors generally arising in the medullary region of the adrenal gland. These tumors release excessive epinephrine and norepinephrine resulting in hypertension and cardiovascular crises for which surgery is the only definitive treatment. Molecular mechanisms that control tumor development and hormone production are poorly understood, and progress has been hampered by the lack of human cellular model systems.

Constitutive NF-kappaB activation, normal Fas-induced apoptosis, and increased incidence of lymphoma in human herpes virus 8 K13 transgenic mice.

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8, also called Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus) has been linked to Kaposi's sarcoma and primary effusion lymphoma. HHV-8-encoded viral Fas-associated death domain-like IL-1-converting enzyme inhibitory protein (vFLIP) is one of the few viral proteins to be expressed in latently infected cells and plays a key role in the survival and proliferation of primary effusion lymphoma cells. Two main functions have been ascribed to HHV-8 vFLIP, inhibition of caspase 8/Fas-associated death domain-like IL-1-converting enzyme and activation of NF-kappaB.

Immortalization of human bronchial epithelial cells in the absence of viral oncoproteins.

By expressing two genes (hTERT and Cdk4), we have developed a method to reproducibly generate continuously replicating human bronchial epithelial cell (HBEC) lines that provide a novel resource to study the molecular pathogenesis of lung cancer and the differentiation of bronchial epithelial cells. Twelve human bronchial epithelial biopsy specimens obtained from persons with and without lung cancer were placed into short-term culture and serially transfected with retroviral constructs containing cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) 4 and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), resulting in continuously growing cultures. The order of introduction of Cdk4 and hTERT did not appear to be important; however, transfection of either gene alone did not result in immortalization.