Replication of GB virus C (hepatitis G virus) in interferon-resistant Daudi cells

We previously reported that Daudi cells, a Burkitt's lymphoma cell line, were capable of supporting productive infection of hepatitis C virus (HCV). During continual cultivation after HCV infection, the culture became resistant to interferons (IFNs). This resistant cell line, coded as H-903, was used as host cells for replication of GB virus C (GBV-C), also known as hepatitis G virus. GBV-C RNA was detected in the culture by reverse transcription-PCR for more than 130 days after inoculation, while it was detected for 44 days but not later in the parental IFN-sensitive Daudi cells. Productive infection of GBV-C in the H-903 system was confirmed by serially inoculating supernatants from infected cultures into uninfected cells. The viral E2 antigen was detected by immunofluorescence in the cells inoculated with the fifth passage of GBV-C. The presumed capsid-coding region of the viral genome in the inoculum, in the serially passaged virus, or in the virus produced by a long-term culture was only 16 amino acids long, suggesting that the GBV-C with a short core sequence was replication competent.