Lin Xinzi, Qi Lin, Li Zhiguo, Chi Hao, Lin Wanjun, Wang Yan, Jiang Zesheng, Pan Mingxin, Gao Yi
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Zhujiang Hospital, China.
Exp Clin Transplant. 2013 Dec;11(6):541-5. doi: 10.6002/ect.2012.0213. Epub 2013 Jul 31.
The risk of porcine endogenous retrovirus infection is a major barrier for pig-to-human xenotransplant. Porcine endogenous retrovirus, present in porcine cells, can infect many human and nonhuman primate cells in vitro, but there is no evidence available about in vitro infection of human liver cells. We investigated the susceptibility of different human liver cells to porcine endogenous retrovirus.
The supernatant from a porcine kidney cell line was added to human liver cells, including a normal hepatocyte cell line (HL-7702 cells), primary hepatocytes (Phh cells), and a liver stellate cell line (Lx-2 cells), and to human embryonic kidney cells as a reference control. Expression of the porcine endogenous retrovirus antigen p15E in the human cells was evaluated with polymerase chain reaction, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and Western blot.
The porcine endogenous retrovirus antigen p15E was not expressed in any human liver cells (HL-7702, Phh, or Lx-2 cells) that had been exposed to supernatants from porcine kidney cell lines. Porcine endogenous retrovirus-specific fragments were amplified in human kidney cells.
Human liver cells tested were not susceptible to infection by porcine endogenous retrovirus. Therefore, not all human cells are susceptible to porcine endogenous retrovirus.
猪内源性逆转录病毒感染风险是猪到人的异种移植的主要障碍。猪内源性逆转录病毒存在于猪细胞中，在体外可感染许多人类和非人类灵长类细胞，但尚无关于其对人肝细胞进行体外感染的证据。我们研究了不同人肝细胞对猪内源性逆转录病毒的易感性。
将猪肾细胞系的上清液加入人肝细胞中，包括正常肝细胞系（HL - 7702细胞）、原代肝细胞（Phh细胞）和肝星状细胞系（Lx - 2细胞），并加入人胚肾细胞作为参照对照。采用聚合酶链反应、逆转录 - 聚合酶链反应和蛋白质免疫印迹法评估人细胞中猪内源性逆转录病毒抗原p15E的表达。
暴露于猪肾细胞系上清液的任何人类肝细胞（HL - 7702、Phh或Lx - 2细胞）中均未表达猪内源性逆转录病毒抗原p15E。在人肾细胞中扩增出猪内源性逆转录病毒特异性片段。
所检测的人肝细胞对猪内源性逆转录病毒感染不敏感。因此，并非所有人类细胞都对猪内源性逆转录病毒敏感。
