Immortal porcine lymphoblastoid cell lines: interest for veterinary and medical research.

Immortal lymphoblastoid cell lines of B and T lineages have been derived from blood cell cultures of Duroc, Miniature (histocompatible) or unknown porcine breeds. The lymphoblast immortalization has been putatively attributed to an oncogenic virus belonging either to the Herpesviridae or to the Retroviridae groups. But a definitive proof of a viral etiology is still lacking, impeding some therapeutic use of tissue culture products secreted by these cell lines. Nevertheless, immortal cell lines have many advantages over finite ones, owing to their ease of maintenance in simple media and to the acquisition of an infinite lifespan. The different cell lines are mainly used to develop the hybridoma technology in this species for cytogenetics and xenogenic research.