Determination of HIV-1 infectivity by lymphocytic cell lines with integrated luciferase gene

We have established lymphocytic cell lines H9 and M8166 that contain integrated copy of luciferase gene under the control of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) long terminal repeat (LTR). While H9 is known to be non-permissive for or insensitive to some particular mutant strains of HIV/simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), M8166 is one of the most susceptible lines to various HIV/SIVs. The luciferase gene driven by HIV-1 LTR was transfected into H9 and M8166 cells with the neo gene, and cell lines were selected by G418. The indicator cell lines thus obtained were designated H9/H1luc and M8166/H1luc, and monitored for their susceptibility to various HIV clones including in vitro-constructed mutants. Both cell lines, particularly M8166/H1luc, were found to be exquisitely sensitive to HIV-1 and HIV-2. Furthermore, they exhibited the response to infections by various viral clones exactly as expected from the characteristics of the original cell lines. These results indicated that our new indicator cell lines H9/H1luc and M8166/H1luc are eminently useful for a variety of molecular virological studies on HIV/SIV.