title: BMEC-1: a human bone marrow microvascular endothelial cell line with primary cell characteristics.
abstract: Bone marrow microvascular endothelial cells (BMEC) are a functional component of the bone marrow stroma and have been shown to release hematopoietic regulatory factors as well as to selectively adhere and support the proliferation and differentiation of CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors. An early passage of these cells was immortalized by transfection with a vector (pSVT) encoding the large T antigen of SV40. The transformed cell line (CDC/CU.BMEC-1) expresses the SV40 transcript, retains the primary cell expression of Ulex europeaus and vWF/ FVIII, and incorporates acetylated low-density lipoprotein. In addition, BMEC-1 mirrors the phenotype of the primary cells with only a few exceptions. Both cell populations express the cellular adhesion molecules ICAM-1 and PECAM and also VCAM-1 and ELAM-1 after upregulation by tumor necrosis factor-alpha. The fibronectin receptor, hyaluronate receptor, collagen receptor, integrins VLA-alpha 3, VLA-alpha 4, and beta 4, endoglin, collagen IV, CD58, and CD61 are also expressed. The only differences are that BMEC-1 expresses higher levels of ICAM-1, CD58, CD34, CD36, and c-kit than the primary cells. The supernatants of primary cell and BMEC-1 contain stem cell factor, interleukin-6 (IL-6), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), IL-1 alpha, IL-11, and G-CSF. The functional significance of these hematopoietic cytokines was demonstrated in transwell cultures. Both cell populations supported the expansion of progeny from CD34+ cell-enriched cord blood mononuclear cells suspended in the upper chamber. These characteristics, plus the fact that BMEC-1 can be maintained independently of exogenous growth factors and exhibit contact inhibition, indicate that this cell line can be used to further define the role of BMEC in hematopoiesis.
authors.affiliation: Biological Products Branch, Scientific Resources Program, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA.
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Candal
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rafii
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: E W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Ades
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ferris
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Nachman
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Kellar
mesh_terms: D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000098:blood supply*; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000166:cytology*
chemical_list: D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules