Production of B-tropic murine leukemia virus by somatic cell hybrids between mouse peritoneal macrophages and simian virus 40-transformed human cells

Abstract

SV40-transformed human cells (LN-SV) were fused with BALB/c peritoneal macrophages (BALB/c .times. LN-SV) and C57BL peritoneal macrophages (C57BL .times. LN-SV); hybrid clones, all of which had segregated human chromosomes and contained the entire complement of mouse chromosomes, were isolated. All 15 BALB/c .times. LN-SV hybrid clones were producing varying titers (10-106 plaque-forming units/ml) of B-tropic murine leukemia virus, whereas none of the 9 C57BL .times. LN-SV hybrid clones was producing detectable ecotropic murine leukemia virus.