Immortalization of Retinal Capillary Endothelial Cells and Involvement in the Intraocular Inflammatory Response

Immortalization of Retinal Capillary Endothelial Cells and Involvement in the Intraocular Inflammatory Response

Endothelial cells are highly active in many physiologic processes such as: vasomotor tone of blood vessels, modulate inflammation, and the growth of new blood vessels. Endophthalmitis is an inflammatory condition in the intraocular cavities caused by bacterial and/or host responses. Endophthalmitis is known to result in significant vision loss and it is suspected that this damage is due mostly to the host immune response. Retinal endothelial cells are involved in the stimulation of intraocular inflammation. How these cells get activated and the production of inflammatory agents such as interleukin-I is not clear, but it is suspected that retinal capillary endothelial cells might be involved in the induction phase of the inflammatory response. An immortalized human retinal capillary endothelial cell line will be developed to serve as an in vitro model for studying the molecular mechanisms involved in the inflammatory reactions. These cells will be grown on membranes of 96 tissue culture plates. Standard protocols use apical cell stimulation. Growing cells on membranes allows for basal stimulation of these cells. The purpose of developing an immortalized cell line instead of using a primary cell line is the ability to proliferate indefinitely as opposed to the limited life of the primary cell line. This will allow for significant numbers for analysis.