ABSTRACT
The ever growing need for new and defined cell lines for basic research or applied biotechnology has led to the development of several techniques to obtain permanent cell lines of a specific origin. The use of trans-immortalisation techniques to create new cell lines has been of particular interest for neurobiological studies, in which immortalized neurons could be derived from SV40 TAg induced tumors in transgenic mice. Trans-immortalization may lead eventually to the derivation of cell lines which are different in several aspects from the original cell type. The choice of the transforming onc-gene can thereby influence the degree of difference between the original cell in vivo and the cultured immortalized cell. Trans-immortalization, which utilises in vivo onc-gene-mediated transformation of specifically targeted cell types coupled to in vitro tissue culture, allows the production of specific new cell lines within a relatively short period of time.
