Establishment and characterization of a carrier cell culture producing high titres of polyoma JC virus

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This report concerns a carrier cell culture (designated JCI) infected persistently with JC virus (JCV). Immunostaining with an anti‐JCV antiserum revealed that JCI was a carrier culture in which only a small fraction of the cells (‐1.5%) produced the virus. The JCV titre was increased strikingly by incubating confluent JCI cells for 4‐6 days in medium containing a low concentration of fetal bovine serum (2%). Viral genomes cloned from the persistently infected JCI cells were heterogeneous with respect to size, but most clones had an alteration of the same regulatory region (designated CR‐JCI). Transfection experiments with a chimeric JCV DNA (Mad‐1/ CR‐JCI), in which the regulatory region was CR‐JCI and the other region was derived from an infectious JCV (Mad‐1) DNA, showed that CR‐JCI was less efficient in inducing viral growth than the regulatory regions of IMR‐32‐adapted JCVs. The transfected cells could be readily subcul‐tured, and they continued to produce JCV. It is concluded that a decrease in the activity of the JCV regulatory region is of importance for the maintenance of the carrier state of JCI cells. © Wiley‐Liss, Inc.