title: Use of a BJAB-derived cell line for isolation of human herpesvirus 8.
abstract: Establishment of latently infected cell lines from primary effusion lymphomas (PEL) presently is the most efficient system for the propagation of clinical strains of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) in culture. Here we describe a new approach to culture productively replicating HHV-8 from patient samples. A BJAB-derived B-cell line, BBF, was found to retain HHV-8 longer, to support the latent and lytic replication programs, and to produce transmissible virus. Supernatants from n-butyrate-treated peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 24 HHV-8-seropositive renal transplant recipients were used to infect BBF cells, and replicating virus was detected in cultures from 11 patients. Moreover, BBF cells infected with saliva strains showed a highly productive profile regardless of the initial viral load, which confirms that infectious HHV-8 can be present in saliva and also suggests that saliva strains may exhibit a high tropism for B lymphocytes. In conclusion, we established an in vitro system that efficiently detects HHV-8 in samples with low viral loads and that produces infectious progeny. BBF cells can be used to propagate HHV-8 from different biological samples as well as to clarify important issues related to virus-cell interactions in a context distinct from endothelial and PEL-derived cell lines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Surgical Sciences, Oncology Section, Via Gattamelata 64, Padua, I-35128 Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gasperini
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barbierato
authors.forename: Canio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martinelli
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rigotti
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marchini
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Masserizzi
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leoncini
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chieco-Bianchi
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Calabrò
mesh_terms: D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology*; D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D012463:Saliva / Q000821:virology; D014776:Virus Cultivation; D017735:Virus Latency; D014779:Virus Replication