Efficient replication of HTLV-III and STLV-IIImac in human Jurkat cells.

High producer cell lines were established by infecting Jurkat cells with either HTLV-IIIB from H9 cells or with STLV-IIImac from HUT-78 cells. The Jurkat cells produced both viruses at least 10 times more efficiently then the original cell lines; the pelleted virus from Jurkat cells was also less contaminated with non-virion proteins. Accordingly, a higher specificity was attained in an ELISA for antibodies to HTLV-III if the antigenic activity was derived from the virus from Jurkat cells, as opposed to that from H9 cells.