Expression profiles of immortal lung fibroblasts

Activation of telomerase often endows cancer cells, but rarely normal somatic cells, with immortality. Especially, fetal lung fibroblasts are known to be hardly immortalized by TERT overexpression. We here established an immortal non-transformed lung fibroblast cell line only by TERT transfection, as well as an immortal transformed cell line by transfection of TERT and SV40 early antigens. Comparing the expression profiles of these cell lines with those of mortal cell strains with elongated lifespan after TERT transfection, 51 genes, including 19 upregulated and 32 downregulated, were explored to be the candidates responsible for regulation of cellular proliferation of lung fibroblasts. These included the genes previously reported to be involved in cellular proliferation, transformation, or self-renewal capacity, and those highly expressed in lung tissues obtained from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis or hypersensitivity pneumonitis. This set of lung fibrobrast cell lines/strains of identical genetic background with different proliferative capacity, mortal and immortal non-transformed fibroblasts may become useful model cells for research on lung fibroblast growth regulation and the candidate genes explored in this study may provide promising biomarkers or molecular targets of pulmonary fibrosis.

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Hiyama K, Tanimoto K, Nishimura Y, Tsugane M, Fukuba I, Sotomaru Y, Hiyama E, Nishiyama M