Propagation of the human polyomavirus, JCV, in human neuroblastoma cell lines.

Susceptibility to infection by the human polyomavirus, JCV, is determined by intracellular mechanisms which control transcription and replication. Originally thought to propagate well only in human cells of oligodendroglial lineage, JCV has recently been shown to infect astrocytes, astrogliomas, and a neuroblastoma cell line. The data reported here describe two cell types that have been subcultured from a human neuroblastoma cell line, SK-N-SH. The SH-SY5Y subclone displays neuronal phenotypes and is not susceptible to JCV infection, while the SH-EP subclone displays glial cell phenotypes and is susceptible to infection. Binding of nuclear proteins from the permissive SH-EP cells to the nuclear factor-1 (NF-1) site in the JCV regulatory DNA sequences results in a gel shift pattern that is different from the nonpermissive SH-SY5Y cell proteins. Northern analysis of mRNA for the four classes of NF-1 proteins showed a predominance of the NF-1/X class in SH-EP cells similar to the highly permissive human fetal glial cells. Very low levels of mRNA for NF-1/X were seen in the nonpermissive SH-SY5Y cells, similar to that seen for the nonpermissive HeLa cells. Several other cell lines tested that were permissive for JCV infection also showed synthesis of the NF-1/X class of proteins. SH-EP cells represent a cell line in a glial cell lineage which is susceptible to JCV multiplication. These cells may be a useful cell culture system for the investigation of DNA binding factors which correlates with viral susceptibility.