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Journal of Virology, May 1999, p. 4052-4061, Vol. 73, No. 5
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
In Vitro Infection of Human Peripheral Blood
Mononuclear Cells by GB Virus C/Hepatitis G Virus
Marta
Fogeda,
Sonia
Navas,
Julio
Martín,
Mercedes
Casqueiro,
Elena
Rodríguez,
Carlos
Arocena, and
Vicente
Carreño*
Department of Hepatology, Fundación
Jiménez Díaz, and Fundación para el Estudio de
las Hepatitis Virales, Madrid, Spain
Received 30 October 1998/Accepted 12 February 1999
GB virus C (GBV-C), also known as hepatitis G virus, is a recently
discovered flavivirus-like RNA agent with unclear pathogenic implications. To investigate whether human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) are susceptible to in vitro GBV-C infection, we have incubated PBMC from four healthy blood donors with a human GBV-C RNA-positive serum. By means of (i) strand-specific reverse
transcription-PCR, cloning, and sequencing; (ii) sucrose
ultracentrifugation and RNase sensitivity assays; (iii) fluorescent in
situ hybridization; and (iv) Western blot analysis, it has been
demonstrated that GBV-C is able to infect in vitro cells and replicate
for as long as 30 days under the conditions developed in our cell
culture system. The concentration of GBV-C RNA increased during the
second and third weeks of culture. The titers of the genomic strand
were 10 times higher than the titers of the antigenomic strand. In addition, the same predominant GBV-C sequence was found in all PBMC
cultures and in the in vivo-GBV-C-infected PBMC isolated from the donor
of the inoculum. GBV-C-specific fluorescent in situ hybridization
signals were confined to the cytoplasm of cells at different times
during the culture period. Finally, evidence obtained by sucrose
ultracentrifugation, RNase sensitivity assays, and Western blot
analysis of the culture supernatants suggests that viral particles are
released from in vitro-GBV-C-infected PBMC. In conclusion, our study
has demonstrated, for the first time, GBV-C replication in human
lymphoid cells under experimental in vitro infection conditions.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Hepatology, Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Avda. Reyes
Católicos, 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain. Phone: 34-91.543.19.64. Fax: 34-91.544.92.28. E-mail: vcarreno{at}uni.fjd.es.

Present address: Department of Microbiology, University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6076.

Present address: Department of Neurology, University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6146.
Journal of Virology, May 1999, p. 4052-4061, Vol. 73, No. 5
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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