Human T cells transduced by a retroviral vector to express Herpesvirus saimiri proteins TIP and STPC.

Herpesvirus saimiri is a virus capable of inducing oncogenic transformation of T lymphocytes of New World primates and immortalizing human T cells in vitro. T lymphocytes immortalized by H. saimiri demonstrate functional biological responses to their antigens. Therefore, H. saimiri-induced transformation of T cells emerges as a very powerful tool of T-cell biology. Although the mechanism of this transformation remains to be understood, it is thought that H. saimiri proteins Tip and StpC play important roles. To facilitate functional studies of Tip and StpC, we retrovirally transduced human MOLT4, Jurkat and JCaM1 T-cell lines to express these H. saimiri proteins, using a three-plasmid system allowing for rapid and efficient production of high-titer retroviral stocks. Several cell lines expressing Tip and/or StpC in a stable fashion were obtained and characterized.