The CHO-CD36 cell line was constructed at DNAX Research Institute, Palo Alto, California by transfecting Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells with linearized cDNA of human CD36 in pCDM8 by electroporation in a 10 fold molar excess over pBJ1-Neo. Stable transfectants were then selected by growth in culture medium containing G418. CHO-CD36 cells express high levels of human CD36 (a ligand for erythrocytes infected with the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum). The cells can be used in adherence assays as a target cell for malaria infected erythrocytes. Functional expression of the transfected receptor molecules on CHO-CD36 was confirmed using parasites with different cytoadherence phenotypes and cytoadherence inhibition experiments with a panel of anti-CD36 antibodies. The use of isolates obtained from malaria patients in The Gambia confirmed the applicability of using these cells in assays for laboratory studies. A culture submitted to the ATCC in August 1993 was found to be contaminated with mycoplasma, and the line was cured by a 21 day treatment with BM Cycline. |
