The microvascular endothelium of the lung is a major target of environmental toxicants, oxidative injury, free radical attack and inflammatory cytokines. Injury to the microvascular endothelium of the lung has been implicated in the development and progression of a variety of infectious diseases, respiratory disorders and in cancers metastasizing to the lung. Therefore, studies involving the signaling networks in lung microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC-Ls) can provide valuable clues to the pathogenesis of several diseases and foster hopes of novel therapies.
The primary lung microvascular endothelial cells from Cambrex Biosciences are a great asset for any researcher in the field of lung vascular biology, immunology or cancer. The cells are available in multiple formats: as cryopreserved cells, in tissue culture flasks, 6-well plates and 24-well plates. Our studies involved studying the effects of nicotine (the major active component of cigarettes) in the progression of lung cancers. Specifically, we wanted to ascertain the effects of nicotine on the angiogenic functions of lung endothelial cells. Therefore, we selected the HMVEC-Ls for our experiments. The biggest advantage of HMVEC-Ls from Cambrex is that the viability of the cells after reviving them from the cryovial is excellent. We found over 90% of the cells were healthy and viable within 24 hours of reviving the freeze down. Cambrex also provides the media to culture these cells. The culture of primary cells is always a technical challenge. The optimized media from Cambrex offers distinct advantages in terms of cell culture, allowing you to focus on doing more experiments. The technical sheet contains precise and detailed instructions about how to revive these cells and culture them. The technical support from the company is excellent. If for some reason the cells do not revive well, the company immediately sends you a replacement vial. The cells are accompanied by a detailed certificate of analysis to ensure high quality. We were using these cells for endothelial proliferation, invasion assays and angiogenesis assays and they gave high quality, reproducible results batch after batch. We used cells between passage 4 and 7 for all our experiments.
The biggest drawback of these cells is their price; in addition, you have to purchase the media from Cambrex. Although, the technical bulletin is very detailed, it does not contain the protocol to freeze down these cells or any details about the freezing media; you have to phone the company to find out the composition of the freezing media. It would be great if they could include this protocol in the technical data sheet.
The isolation and culture of endothelial cells is an arduous and difficult technique. Therefore, I believe that the advantages of using HMVEC-Ls far outweigh their price and they are worth it. In summary, I would unhesitatingly state that human lung microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC-Ls) from Cambrex are a very useful resource for all scientists who study the pathology of diseases involving lung microvasculature.
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Piyali Dasgupta
Postdoctoral Scientist
Drug Discovery
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center
United States
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