A TRANSFORMED HUMAN TRACHEAL GLAND CELL-LINE, MM-39, THAT RETAINS SEROUS SECRETORY FUNCTIONS

Infection with the wild type SV40 virus was used to transform primary cultures of human tracheal gland serous (HTGS) cells. Over 80 differen t cell lines were obtained, but the majority had lost some of their ep ithelial and secretory features. However, one of these cell lines, MM- 39, was shown to have conserved the physiologic characteristics of the genuine HTGS cells - i.e., the presence of cytokeratin, expression of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator mRNA, a level of secretory leukocyte: proteinase inhibitor secretion comparable to that of the native cells (25 +/- 3 ng/10(6) cells/h), and the responsivene ss to pharmacological agonists: carbachol (+260 +/- 40%), isoprotereno l (+260 +/- 40%), and adenosine 5'-triphosphate (+280 +/- 30%). These characteristics describe a transformed cell line of human tracheal gla nd cells which has retained the features of the native serous cells. A s a result, this cell line appears to be a useful tool for large-scale physiologic and pharmacologic studies of bronchial secretion at the c ellular level.