Stability of von Willebrand factor secretion in different human endothelial hybrid cell lines.

Endothelial cells form a highly differentiated tissue on the inner surface of blood vessels. One of the typical characteristics is the expression of von Willebrand Factor, a protein that participates in blood coagulation. The in vitro cultivation of endothelial cells is limited by the fact that primary cells become senescent after 40 generation doublings. We have immortalized human endothelial cells by somatic cell hybridization. Primary cells were fused to different tumor cell lines of murine and human origin. The degree of differentiation of the resulting hybrids was analyzed by characterizing the expression of von Willebrand Factor. This protein was identified intracellularly and in the culture supernatant. During long-term cultivation the hybrid cells showed a tendency to lose this differentiated property even after several subcloning steps. However by fusing them with primary endothelial cells a second time, cell lines expressing von Willebrand Factor for more than 180 population doublings were generated.