Esophageal fibroblasts which line the lamina propria of the upper and lower esophagus are mesenchymal cells that originated from the embryonic mesoderm. They have been shown to play an important role in angiogenesis through TGF-β and VEGF signaling pathways in the highly angiogenic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Predominantly, fibroblasts secrete a nonrigid extracellular matrix that is both rich in type I and/or type III collagen. They are responsible for much of the synthesis of extracellular matrix in the connective tissues and play major roles in wound healing. Because they are one of the simplest types of cells to grow in culture fibroblasts have been extensively used for a wide range of cellular and molecular studies. In addition, fibroblasts’ durability makes them amenable to a wide variety of manipulations ranging from gene transfection to microinjection.The HEF cells from AcceGen Research Laboratories are isolated from human esophageal tissue. HEF are cryopreserved at passage one and delivered frozen. Each vial contains >5×10^5 cells in 1 ml volume. HEF are characterized by immunofluorescence with antibody specific to fibronectin. HEF are negative for HIV-1, HBV, HCV, mycoplasma, bacteria, yeast and fungi. HEF are guaranteed to further expand for 15 population doublings at the conditions provided by AcceGen Research Laboratories.
