| abstract |
Immortalised human colon epithelial cell line has no tumour markers, expresses metabolic markers specific for non-immortalised human epithelial cells, expresses differentiation markers specific for non-immortalised human colon epithelial cells, and is capable of adhering to lactic acid bacterium CNCM I-1225 in vitro. Also claimed are: (1) a serum-free culture medium for culturing and immortalising human colon epithelial cells, containing inorganic salts, glucose, sodium pyruvate, amino acids, bovine serum albumin, ethanolamine, phosphoethanolamine, vitamins (vitamin C and retinoic acid), trace elements and hormones (triiodothyronine, dexamethasone, hydrocortisone, bovine pituitary extract, insulin, epithelial growth factor and transferrin), and (2) a process for immortalising human colon epithelial cells, comprising preparing a primary culture of the cells, infecting the culture with a recombinant virus, and culturing the cells in a medium as above. |