ECV304 cells can be used as a general model, tool or target in the re search of biomedicine and pharmacology / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

ECV304 was reported first in 1990 as a spont aneously-transformed and immortalized cell line derived from a Japanese HUVEC. S ubsequently, many studies validated that the ECV304 is a permanent endothelial cell line. It has been used widely as an endothelial cell model and an useful re search tool in biomedicine and pharmacology. However, several distinct differenc es exist between ECV304 and HUVEC. Some studies even pointed out that ECV304 is not of HUVEC origin. According to the research data including ours, this reporte dly endothelial-derived permanent human cell line ECV304 may be dedifferentiated towards an epithelial phenotype. It is therefore not an appropriate cell line t o study endothelial cell biology. But cultured ECV304 cells can still be used as a model, tool or target in the pathophysiological and pharmacological studies, depending on whether or not their functional expression or markers are suitable for the research work.