In Vitro Assays to Study Epithelial Cell Differentiation

The development of in vitro systems for the culture of human epithelial cells has aided the study of epithelial cell transformation by the epitheliotrophic papilloma-viruses (1 ). Although long-term proliferation of keratinocytes in vitro can now be achieved, the tissue-culture environment is not optimal for differentiation, hampering the study of virus:cell interactions in differentiating epithelial cells.