Figure 1.

Establishment and growth characteristics of human KC cell lines. For KC isolation plucked hair roots were placed on growth inactivated fibroblasts (a), round KC colonies that formed after 2–3 weeks (b) were transferred to cell culture flasks and the cells were subjected to different immortalization protocols (a). Growth curves show the extension of KC life span after SV40 transfection (SV; blue lines) and the establishment of stable KC cell lines after SV40 transfection and subsequent hTERT transduction (SVTERT; green and red lines) (c). Scale bar = 480 µm.