A quantitative analysis of the susceptibility of human leukocytes to transformation by Epstein-Barr virus

Susceptibility of lymphocyte-enriched cell fractions isolated from human umbilical cord blood and adult peripheral blood to transformation by the B95-8 strain of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was investigated quantitatively. Minimum multiplicity of input of virus (50% transforming dose) per cell (MOI) necessary to induce maximum level transformation of cord cells ranged from 0.02 to 0.2. The frequency of initially transformed cells (fraction of transformable cells) in the cord cell samples from two different individuals was estimated to be 2.6 to 6.2%. In this system, the appearance of cells positive for EBV-associated nuclear antigen (EBNA) paralleled the growth curve of transformed cells. About 70% of the latter were EBNA-positive. In adult cell preparations from two individuals, 1.8 and 0.03%, respectively, of the cells were transformable indicating larger individual variations in sensitivity to EBV than in cord cells. The EBV susceptibility was also determined by the transforming efficiency (TE) expressed as the negative log of the virus dilution which induces transformation in 50% of cell cultures infected at an MOI of 0.2. From the TE value, a minimum MOI which induces transfromation could be calculated. Also by this test it was shown that the EBV susceptibility of adult cells was not only lower but also much more variable between individuals than that of cord cells. There was no correlation between the susceptibility of cells and the titer of anti-EBV antibody in donors' sera. In cultures of mixed cord cells and adult cells known to have low EBV susceptibility, the minimum MOI increased in proportion to the amount of adult cells.