SV40-mediated immortalization

Human diploid cells have a limited life span, ending in replicative senesce nce, in contrast to cell lines derived from tumors, which show an indefinit e Life span and are immortal, suggesting that replicative senescence is a t umor suppression mechanism. We have utilized introduction of SV40 sequences to develop matched sets of nonimmortal and immortal cell lines to help dis sect the mechanism of immortalization and have found that it has multiple f acets, involving both SV40-dependent and -independent aspects. These studie s have led to the identification of a novel growth suppressor gene (SEN6) a s well as providing a model system for the study of cellular aging, apoptos is, and telomere stabilization among other things. It is anticipated that S V40-transformed cells will continue to provide a very useful experimental s ystem leading to insights into the behavior of cells with altered expressio n of oncogenes and growth suppressor gene products. (C) 1998 Academic Press .