Angiosarcoma of the liver is extremely rare, but there is an increased incidence in Louisville, Kentucky due to worker exposure to gaseous vinyl chloride. The tumor is endothelial in origin as it possess factor VIII, a coagulation factor and known endothelial cell marker. The malignant cells have been described as pleomorphic malignant endothelial cells, malignant spherical and spindle cells or enlarged spindle-shaped endothelial cells. The lack of a cell line derived from a hepatic angiosarcoma has significantly limited studies of this rare lethal malignancy. This study describes the characterization of a human endothelial cell line from a liver biopsy of a hepatic angiosarcoma patient who had been previously exposed to gaseous vinyl chloride. This cell line denoted, HAEND, does not require growth factors such as endothelial cell growth factor for cultivation. Also, this line can be cultivated on untreated plastic surfaces and does not require gelatin or fibronectin coated surfaces.
Characterization of tissue factor expression on the human endothelial cell line ECV304