Growth Factors for Mesothelial and Mesothelioma Cells

Abstract

The mesothelial cell not only is the progenitor cell type of mesothelioma, but also is a selective target for the carcinogenic effects of asbestos fibers. Primary human mesothelial cells, obtained from pleural fluids from patients without malignant disease, are cultured in MCDB 151 medium supplemented with hydrocortisone (4×10−7M), insulin (8.7×10−7M), epidermal growth factor (3.3×10−9M), transferrin (1.25×10−7M), retinoic add (3.3×10−10M), gentamicin (50µg/ml) and fetal bovine serum (3%). These cultured mesothelial cells have a plastic cytoskeleton with both vimentin and a unique set of cytokeratins. Normal mesothelial cells have a colony-forming efficiency of 5 to 10%, undergo 25 to 30 population doublings before senescence, and maintain a diploid karyotype until senescence.