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Updated: Jul 5, 2026
Establishment of Epstein-Barr Virus Growth-transformed Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines
Published on: November 8, 2011
Restricted expression of Epstein-Barr virus latent genes in murine B cells derived from embryonic stem cells
Magdalena Zychlinska1, Heidrun Herrmann, Ursula Zimber-Strobl
1Department of Gene Vectors, Helmholtz Center Munich, German Research Center for Environment and Health, Munich, Germany.
Background:
Several human malignancies are associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and more than 95% of the adult human population carries this virus lifelong. EBV efficiently infects human B cells and persists in this cellular compartment latently. EBV-infected B cells become activated and growth transformed, express a characteristic set of viral latent genes, and acquire the status of proliferating lymphoblastoid cell lines in vitro. Because EBV infects only primate cells, it has not been possible to establish a model of infection in immunocompetent rodents. Such a model would be most desirable in order to study EBV's pathogenesis and latency in a suitable and amenable host.
Methodology/Principal Findings:
We stably introduced recombinant EBV genomes into mouse embryonic stem cells and induced their differentiation to B cells in vitro to develop the desired model. In vitro differentiated murine B cells maintained the EBV genomes but expression of viral genes was restricted to the latent membrane proteins (LMPs). In contrast to human B cells, EBV's nuclear antigens (EBNAs) were not expressed detectably and growth transformed murine B cells did not arise in vitro. Aberrant splicing and premature termination of EBNA mRNAs most likely prevented the expression of EBNA genes required for B-cell transformation.
Conclusions/Significance:
Our findings indicate that fundamental differences in gene regulation between mouse and man might block the route towards a tractable murine model for EBV.
