Analysis of immortalization of normal T lymphocytes by Epstein-Barr virus

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This study aimed to investigate the unclarified Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) activity on normal T-lymphocyte immortalization. For infection experiments, we used recombinant EBV (Akata strain) carrying the neomycin-resistance gene (neo-EBV). Although normal peripheral T lymphocytes could not be infected by neo-EBV,primary thymocytes revealed EBNA1 expression after virus exposure. However, the following selection culture did not yield permanently growing thymocytes infected with neo-EBV even in the presence of interleukin 2 (IL-2) in culture medium, probably because virus-infected thymocytes tended to enter into the virus lytic cycle. These results suggest that EBV infection of thymocytes results in the permissive, not latent, infection in vivo, which may be associated with EBV-induced T-lymphoproliferative disorders.We are currently studying whether EBNA2, or-3A,or-3C gene can alter EBV-infected T-cell lines, the growth of which is dependent on IL-2 so far, such as in terms of aquisition of IL-2 independency or more malignant phenotype.