In VitroImmortalization of Old World Monkey T Lymphocytes withHerpesvirus Saimiri:Its Susceptibility to Infection with Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses

Abstract

Peripheral blood T lymphocytes of Old World monkeys, rhesus and cynomolgus monkey (Macaca mulatta and Macaca fascicularis, respectively), were successfully immortalized by infection with Herpesvirus saimiri subtype C. The T cell lines were stably cultured without addition of exogenous IL-2. The STP-C488 protein, the oncogene product of subtype C strain 488-77, was detected in these cells by Western blotting. They also expressed some markers of activated or matured T cell phenotypes such as CD2+, monkey Pan-T+, CD25+,CD29+ and MHC-II DR+. Interestingly, not only CD4+CD8- or CD4-CD8+ single positive subpopulations but also CD4+CD8+ double positive ones were present in all of them. Furthermore, they were productively infected with both SIVmac and SIVagm. The levels of the viral replication were comparable to those in human T cell lines. Thus, Herpes Virus Saimiri-immortalized Old World monkey T lymphocytes will be suitable for further studies of immune system in Old World monkeys and cell-virus interactions in SIV infection.

Nucleotide sequence of the Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (HHV8)

“…HVS ORF1 codes for a transforming protein, responsible for HVS-induced in vitro lymphocyte transformation (33) and has poor sequence conservation among HVS strains (34,35). Functional homologs to this gene may be present but were not identifiable by sequence homology.…”

A Specific Region of 37 Amino Acid Residues in the SPRY (B30.2) Domain of African Green Monkey TRIM5α Determines Species-Specific Restriction of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus SIVmac Infection

“…HIV-1 does not experimentally infect Old World monkeys, such as rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys, and fails to replicate in activated CD4-positive T lymphocytes obtained from these monkeys (13,31). In contrast, simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) isolated from a macaque monkey (SIVmac) can replicate well in rhesus (13,31) and cynomolgus monkeys (2,3). The restricted host range of HIV-1 has greatly hampered its use in animal experiments and, hence, caused difficulty in developing prophylactic vaccines against HIV-1 infection.…”

Construction and in vivo infection of a new simian/human immunodeficiency virus chimera containing the reverse transcriptase gene and the 3′ half of the genomic region of human immunodeficiency virus type 1

“…HSC-F is a cynomolgus monkey CD4 + T-cell line from a foetal splenocyte that was immortalized by infection with herpesvirus saimiri subtype C (Akari et al, 1996). M8166 and HSC-F cells were maintained in RPMI 1640 medium containing 10 % heat-inactivated foetal bovine serum (FBS).…”