Immortalized Human Corneal Endothelial Cells (IHCE)

The role of the corneal endothelium is to regulate corneal hydration, and dysfunction of this critical cellular layer will gradually result in corneal opacification and eventually results in loss of vision and corneal blindness. Established using the HPV16 E6/E7 genes, The Immortalized Human Corneal Endothelial Cells (IHCE) not only retains its authentic cell biomarkers (CX43, ZO-1 and 9.3E), it also displays fairly disomic cytogenetic status at chromosomes 1, 8, 10 and 18, which is an indication of normal diploid chromosomal status.

Together with the Immortalized Human Corneal Keratinocytes (T0579) and the Immortalized Human Corneal Fibroblasts (T0578) isolated from the same donor and immortalized using the same platform, this uniform model system presents a valuable tool for studies involving cornea homeostasis and ophthalmologic diseases.