title: Xenotropic retrovirus Bxv1 in human pancreatic β cell lines.
abstract: It has been reported that endogenous retroviruses can contaminate human cell lines that have been passaged as xenotransplants in immunocompromised mice. We previously developed and described 2 human pancreatic β cell lines (EndoC-βH1 and EndoC-βH2) that were generated in this way. Here, we have shown that B10 xenotropic virus 1 (Bxv1), a xenotropic endogenous murine leukemia virus (MuLV), is present in these 2 recently described cell lines. We determined that Bxv1 was also present in SCID mice that were used for in vivo propagation of EndoC-βH1/2 cells, suggesting that contamination occurred during xenotransplantation. EndoC-βH1/2 cells released Bxv1 particles that propagated to human 293T and Mus dunni cells. Mobilization assays demonstrated that Bxv1 transcomplements defective MuLV-based retrovectors. In contrast, common rodent β cell lines, rat INS-1E and RIN-5F cells and mouse MIN6 and βTC3 cells, displayed either no or extremely weak xenotropic helper activity toward MuLV-based retrovectors, although xenotropic retrovirus sequences and transcripts were detected in both mouse cell lines. Bxv1 propagation from EndoC-βH1/2 to 293T cells occurred only under optimized conditions and was overall poorly efficient. Thus, although our data imply that MuLV-based retrovectors should be cautiously used in EndoC-βH1/2 cells, our results indicate that an involuntary propagation of Bxv1 from these cells can be easily avoided with good laboratory practices.
authors.forename: Jeannette S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kirkegaard
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ravassard
authors.forename: Signe
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ingvarsen
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diedisheim
authors.forename: Emilie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bricout-Neveu
authors.forename: Mads
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grønborg
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Frogne
authors.forename: Raphael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scharfmann
authors.forename: Ole D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rescan
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Albagli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D015870:Gene Expression; D016679:Genome, Viral; D064593:Heterografts; D006801:Humans; D050417:Insulin-Secreting Cells / Q000821:virology*; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D051381:Rats; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016662:Virus Integration; D014779:Virus Replication; D058008:Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins