Yu Ping, Zhang Li, Bu Hong, Li Sheng-fu, Li You-ping, Cheng Jing-qiu
Lab of Transplantation Engineering and Immunology, Department of Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Zhonghua Bing Li Xue Za Zhi. 2005 Apr;34(4):220-3.
To assess the infectivity of porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) via in vitro infection of human embryonic kidney cell line HEK-293.
PERV particles were detected by immunoelectron microscopy. PERV DNA and mRNA were studied in HEK-293 24 hours after the infection using polymerase chain reaction and reverse transcriptase-PCR respectively. The PERV types were also analyzed. PERV-gag protein was observed by confocal microscopy.
Retroviral particles were round under electron microscope. PERV-gag pol gene and gag protein were detected and expressed in the infected HEK-293 cells. The types of PERV were PERV-A and PERV-B. PERV-gag protein was also identified in the cytoplasm of infected cells by confocal microscopy.
PERV is able to infect HEK-293 cell line in vitro; types of PERV-gag protein is also expressed as a result. Further studies are thus necessary in order to evaluate the possibility of xenozoonoses in pig-to-human xenotransplantation.
