Establishment and characterization of immortalized bovine endometrial epithelial cells

• DOI: 10.1111/asj.12202
• Publication Date: 2014-04-15T12:07:07Z
• Authors: Hanako Bai; Toshihiro Sakurai; Rulan Bai; Sachiko Yamakoshi; Etsunari Aoki; Mariko Kuse; Kiyoshi Okuda; Kazuhiko Imakawa
• Keywords: Cell Survival; Papillomavirus E7 Proteins; Cytological Techniques; Genetic Vectors; Pregnancy Proteins; immortalization; Dinoprost; Oxytocin; Endometrium; 03 medical and health sciences; Pregnancy; Animals; Telomerase; Cells, Cultured; Cell Proliferation; 0303 health sciences; bovine; 467; Original Articles; Oncogene Proteins, Viral; endometrial epithelial cell; Stimulation, Chemical; 3. Good health; Retroviridae; Interferon Type I; Keratins; Cattle; Female

AbstractBovine primary uterine endometrial epithelial cells (EECs) are not ideal for long‐term studies, because primary EECs lose hormone responsiveness quickly, and/or they tend to have a short life span. The aims of this study were to establish immortalized bovine EECs and to characterize these cells following long‐term cultures. Immortalized bovine EECs were established by transfecting retroviral vectors encoding human papillomavirus (HPV) E6 and E7, and human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) genes. Established bovine immortalized EECs (imEECs) showed the same morphology as primary EECs, and could be grown without any apparent changes for over 60 passages. In addition, imEECs have maintained the features as EECs, exhibiting oxytocin (OT) and interferon tau (IFNT) responsiveness. Therefore, these imEECs, even after numbers of passages, could be used as an in vitro model to investigate cellular and molecular mechanisms, by which the uterine epithelium responds to IFNT stimulation, the event required for the maternal recognition of pregnancy in the bovine species.