title: Infection of rats with bovine leukaemia virus: establishment of a virus-producing rat cell line.
abstract: Adult rats were infected with bovine leukaemia virus (BLV). Inoculated rats persistently produced antibodies directed against viral structural proteins. No major pathogenesis in infected rats was found during 2 years of observation. It was possible to recover the virus from rat spleen several months after infection. A cell line, R(BLV), was established from rat spleen; this contained integrated BLV provirus. R(BLV) cells kept for over 80 passages in vitro produced viral particles with the properties of BLV. Provirus reintegration and/or amplification occurred in R(BLV) cells. The cell line was found to be tumorigenic in rats, and the virus produced was immunogenic. R(BLV) cells represent the first described BLV-producing rat cell line. Proven persistent infection with BLV indirectly suggests that rats can serve as a reservoir of BLV in nature.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Altanerova
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Portetelle
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kettmann
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Altaner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002417:Cattle; D002460:Cell Line; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000382:microbiology; D001909:Leukemia Virus, Bovine / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000276:immunology; D007942:Leukemia, Experimental / Q000382:microbiology*; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D011533:Proviruses / Q000254:growth & development; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000254:growth & development*; D013154:Spleen; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral