Use of helper cells with two host ranges to generate high-titer retroviral vectors.

We have recently described Avian Leukosis Virus (ALV)-based packaging cell lines that can produce helper-free ALV-based retrovirus vectors with A, B, C, and E envelope host ranges. Here, we report that lacZ retroviral vectors of subgroup C or E can infect helper cells of subgroup A (Isolde) which are then able to produce high titers of lacZ recombinant viruses of subgroup A. Superinfection of helper cells by lacZ recombinant virus was performed by cocultivating packaging cells with two subgroup specificities (A and E), but this did not result in increased recombinant virus titers. This "ping-pong" process caused the emergence of replication-competent (RC) viruses which are shown to result from recombination between the viral sequences of the helper cell lines and the cis-acting sequences of the lacZ recombinant virus.