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Journal of Virology, October 2000, p. 9125-9133, Vol. 74, No. 19
0022-538X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Full-Length GB Virus C (Hepatitis G Virus) RNA Transcripts Are Infectious in Primary CD4-Positive T Cells

Jinhua Xiang,1 Sabina Wünschmann,1 Warren Schmidt,1 Jianqiang Shao,2 and Jack T. Stapleton1,*

Departments of Internal Medicine and Research1 and the University of Iowa Central Microscopy Research Facility,2 Iowa City Veterans Administration Medical Center and The University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52242

Received 24 February 2000/Accepted 21 June 2000

GB virus C (GBV-C or hepatitis G virus) is a recently described flavivirus which frequently leads to chronic viremia in humans. Although GBV-C is associated with acute posttransfusion hepatitis, it is not clear if the virus is pathogenic for humans. We constructed a full-length cDNA from the plasma of a person with chronic GBV-C viremia. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) transfected with full-length RNA transcripts from this GBV-C clone resulted in viral replication. This was demonstrated by serial passage of virus from cell culture supernatants, detection of increasing concentrations of positive- and negative-sense GBV-C RNA over time, and the detection of the GBV-C E2 antigen by confocal microscopy. In addition, two types of GBV-C particles were identified in cell lysates; these particles had buoyant densities of 1.06 and 1.12 to 1.17 g/ml in sucrose gradients. PBMCs sorted for expression of CD4 contained 100-fold-more GBV-C RNA than CD4-negative cells. Taken together, these data demonstrate that RNA transcripts from GBV-C full-length cDNA are infectious in primary CD4-positive T cells. In contrast, RNA transcripts from an infectious hepatitis C virus clone did not replicate in the same cell culture system. Infectious RNA transcripts from GBV-C cDNA should prove useful for studying viral replication and may allow identification of differences between GBV-C and hepatitis C virus cultivation in vitro.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Internal Medicine, SW 54, GH UIHC, 200 Hawkins Dr., The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242. Phone: (319) 356-3168. Fax: (319) 356-4600. E-mail: jack-stapleton{at}uiowa.edu.

Journal of Virology, October 2000, p. 9125-9133, Vol. 74, No. 19
0022-538X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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