Fig. 7.

Endothelial cells support the growth of airway basal cells in the absence of growth factors. a Human airway basal cells were cultured alone or in co-culture with Akt-activated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC-Akt) in cytokine- and serum-free conditions. At the desired time points, cells were harvested and the GFP-labeled HUVEC-Akt cells was determined as the GFP⁺VE-cadherin⁺ population by flow cytometric analysis, and the GFP⁻VE-cadherin⁻ population quantified as expanded basal cells. Data shown is the average of four independent experiments. b Representative flow cytometric analysis of human airway basal cell and HUVEC-Akt populations at day 0 and day 4 of co-culture. HUVEC-Akt cells were determined as the GFP⁺VE-cadherin⁺ population, and the GFP⁻VE-cadherin⁻ population quantified as expanded basal cells