Sensitivity of primary cells immortalised by oncogene transfection for the detection and isolation of foot-and-mouth disease and swine vesicular disease viruses.

Primary cells derived from calf thyroid (CTY), calf kidney (CK) and piglet kidney (PK) were immortalised by oncogene transfection and their susceptibility to infection by foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus and swine vesicular disease (SVD) virus examined. Eighty-five immortalised cell lines (47 CTY, 20 CK and 18 PK) proved stable upon repeated cell culture passage and many supported the growth of FMD virus and several of the PK cell lines supported SVD virus. However, none of the immortalised lines exhibited either the degree of sensitivity or the specificity for all virus serotypes and strains as shown by primary CTY and IB-RS-2 cell cultures which are routinely employed for vesicular virus diagnosis.