title: A study on the susceptibility of allogeneic human hepatocytes to porcine endogenous retrovirus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) is a virus that can be integrated into porcine genome. It has been proved that PERV can infect the cells of a variety of species. However, little is known about the infectivity of PERV to human hepatocytes. The present study focused on the susceptibility of primary human hepatocytes to PERV.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cell culture supernatant containing PERV was used to infect primary allogeneic hepatocytes and human embryonic kidney cell line HEK-293. The integration of PERV into the genome and PERV expression were detected by using PCR and RT-PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Gene and mRNA sequences of PERV were detected in HEK-293 cells; however, viral gene expression was not detected in 3 groups of primary allogeneic hepatocytes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HEK-293 cells can be infected by PERV, but 3 groups of primary allogeneic hepatocytes were not sensitive to PERV, indicating PERV had no infectivity to primary human hepatocytes.
authors.affiliation: Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China. gaoyiyi126@126.com.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000378:metabolism*; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics*; D013552:Swine; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger