What is the difference between HUVECs and endothelial cell lines being used for inflammatory (e.g. leukocyte homing, cytokine secretion) or angiogenic (e.g. proliferation, tube formation) assays?
I agree with Thomas that you better use the site specific EC that fits into your proposal for the study. I always have the concern about the phenotype of HUVEC. HUVEC is the kind of cell that suppose to work only during intrauterine life. Is it more like pulmonary EC or systemic EC? For really basic studies HUVEC maybe better one to use.
I agree with the previous answerrs moreover HUVEC modifies antigen expression depending on cell density so you should take this into account good luck
One of the hallmarks of endothelial cells is the expression of Von Willebrand factor and its storage in the so called Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs). At higher passage numbers of HUVECs, but also in immortalized endothelial cell lines, VWF expression is lost, as are the WPBs. Since some of the angiogenic regulators such as Angiopoietin-2 are stored in WPBs, I pressume this must have consequences for any angiogenic related assays.
HUVECs should be fine up to passage 4. Their main advantage is the degree of biological variability (due to being collected from different individuals); so, a consistent finding in HUVECs would be more likely to translate in to the 'real' world.
Besides, the primary ECs from commercial sources are far more expensive than HUVECs, while transformed cell lines like Ea.Hy926 do not fully demonstrate many of the endothelial characteristics.
I would suggest using HUVECs for most studies and (maybe) recapitulating the key findings in site-specific primary (low passage no.) ECs.
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