title: Establishment of AIDS-related primary-effusion lymphoma (PEL) cell lines that proliferate continuously without serum.
abstract: The gammaherpesvirus dually-infected (HHV8/EBV) PEL cell line, BC-1, was weaned gradually from fetal bovine serum (FBS) during successive feedings with RPMI 1640 medium containing human transferrin and selenium dioxide as the only additives. A serum-free cell line (sfBC-1) emerged that was 100% major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II negative, compared with 10% MHC class II-negative cells before serum removal. In contrast, MHC class I expression by sfBC-1 cells slightly exceeded that of BC-1 cells. BC-1 and sfBC-1 cells were indistinguishable in six polymorphic genetic loci, confirming their relatedness and sfBC-1 cells contained HHV8 and EBV. These findings were not attributable to dual infection because the PEL cell line, BCBL-1, which is infected with HHV8 but not EBV, also contained MHC class II positive (45%) and class II negative (55%) cells. Moreover, a serum-free BCBL-1 (sfBCBL-1) cell line was established and the sfBCBL-1 cells were MHC class I up modulated and 100% MHC class II negative. The serum-free cell lines established in this study may be useful for exploring PEL-cell autocrine-growth pathways and for assessing MHC class II-negative PEL cells for tumorigenesis in animal model systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, and Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, 2078 Graves, 333 W 10th, Colombus, OH 43210-1239, USA. shaw.8@osu.edu
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knisley
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Severson
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rahill
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Lang
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000821:virology; D001483:Base Sequence; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002455:Cell Division; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000032:analysis; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D016483:Lymphoma, AIDS-Related / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D004279:DNA, Viral; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II