GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CELL LINES, AND THEIR USES, IN PARTICULAR FOR NEUROTOXICITY TESTING

摘要

The present invention relates to genetically engineered cell lines, and to their uses, in particular in processes for screening the developmental or post-developmental neurotoxicity of endogenous or exogenous factors, including drugs and other chemicals, also at low-level exposure, for screening pharmaceutically active molecules useful as drugs for the treatment of pathologies involving an abnormal inhibition or activation of cell death, and for mechanistic studies, the said cell lines being genetically transformed with a nucleotide sequence coding for the p53 protein or a nucleotide sequence coding for the bcl-2 protein, and a nucleotide sequence controlling the level of expression of p53 or bcl-2 proteins. The present invention also relates to kits comprising the said genetically engineered cell lines for carrying out the said processes.