Establishment of a canine lens epithelial cell line.

Akira Matsuda, Yuki Shimizu, Teppei Kanda, Akihiro Ohnishi, Noritaka Maeta, Masahiro Miyabe, Kaori Saeki, Yoshiki Itoh

Some immortalized lens epithelial cell lines have been established and are useful for molecular analysis. The establishment of additional cell lines must, however, enable a variety of in-vitroexaminations. The objective of this study was to establish a new canine lens epithelial cell line by isolating CLC-1 cells from the lens tissue of a dog with cataracts. In CLC-1 cells, transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) treatment significantly decreased gene expression of an epithelial marker and elevated that of mesenchymal markers; these characteristics are similar to those of a human lens epithelial cell line. Interestingly, CLC-1 cells exhibited lower expression of an epithelial marker and higher expression of mesenchymal markers than an anterior lens capsule. These results suggest that CLC-1 cells were derived from a cell population that was committed to epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cataract lens tissue. In conclusion, CLC-1 cells could be useful for analyzing molecular pathogenesis in canine cataracts.

Canadian Journal of veterinary research

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