An Epstein-Barr virus susceptible immature T-cell line, WILL4, established from a patient with T-lymphoblastic lymphoma bearing CD21 and a clonal EBV genome.

We managed a patient with an Epstein-Barr virus-associated T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. Mediastinal tumor cells at initial admission were positive for CD4, CD8, and TdT. Interestingly, a lymph node at necropsy was compatible for a CD4-positive peripheral T-cell lymphoma without CD8 and TdT expression, suggesting a different phenotype from the mediastinal tumor. Tumor cells in pleural effusion continued to proliferate in in vitro and were designated as WILL4. WILL4 cells were positive for CD3, CD4, CD8, CD21, T-cell receptor (TcR) αβ, and TdT, indicating a similar phenotype to thymocytes. Southern blot analyses showed that the pleural tumor and WILL4 cells shared a TcR gene rearrangement, and that both contained a clonal EBV genome in an episomal form. RT-PCR showed that EBNA1 and LMP1 were expressed in the fresh tumor and WILL4 cells. Southern blot analyses revealed that WILL4 cells were susceptible to EBV infection in vitro using B95-8 supernatant. Anti-CD21 antibody inhibited in vitro infection of EBV, suggesting that CD21 plays a role in EBV infection into WILL4 cells. In vitro infection of EBV did not affect latent gene expression in WILL4 cells. WILL4 is a useful tool for analyzing the roles of EBV in onocogenesis in immature T-lymphoid malignancies.