Isolation of immortal human endothelial cells.

To get immortalized endothelial cells, human endothelial cells were transfected with a temperature-sensitive simian virus 40 DNA. The majority of transfected cells showed a prolonged life span and temperature-dependent cell growth. One of the clones, #5-1, grew either at 33 or 37 degrees C and could be cultured more than 110 generations. The cells expressed several endothelial cell specific characteristics.