Abstract: The invention concerns a medicine comprising, as active principle, an efficient quantity of at least an oligosaccharide substance capable of modulating apoptosis dysfunction which is capable of modifying apoptosis dysfunctions said substance being selected from the group consisting of oligosaccharides which are derived, by enzymatic or chemical process, from the polymers of the group comprising (1→3)-&bgr;-glucans which optionally comprise (1→6)-&bgr;-branching, and oligosaccharides which are derived, by enzymatic or chemical process, from sulfated galactans, it also concerns a method for treating apoptosis dysfunction.

Abstract: Described is an immortalized human skin cell type line (preferably keratinocytes, fibroblasts and/or endothelial cells) stably transfected with a vector, wherein said vector comprises a promoter inducible by environmental hazards and a reporter gene in operative linkage thereto. Preferably, the keratinocyte line is the line HaCaT, the fibroblast line is the line WI-26 and the endothelial cell line is the line LT-2. In addition, a living skin equivalent is described. Furthermore, in vitro toxicity assays making use of these immortalized human skin cell type lines or the skin equivalent are described.