A modified procedure for the propagation of wild type Epstein-Barr virus in cultures of marmoset blood cells

Abstract

Productive infection of marmoset blood mononuclear cells by the Epstein-Barr virus was generally achieved by the co-cultivation method. By introducing 2 modifications, the success rate of infection was increased from 6% to 79%. The modifications consisted of the selection of human lymphocyte donors to serve as carriers of Epstein-Barr virus in cocultures, and the addition of cyclosporin A to culture media. So far, 10 of 10 wild type oropharyngeal EBV have been propagated successfully in cultures of marmoset blood mononuclear cells by the modified procedure. Fragment length polymorphism study failed to reveal any difference between viral genomes in human lymphocytes and that in marmoset blood mononuclear cells. Antigenic analysis of 8 wild strains showed that all were related to the B95-8 strain of Epstein-Barr virus by the neutralization test.