Journal of General Virology, Vol 80, 627-630, Copyright © 1999 by Society for General Microbiology
Infection of apheresis cells by parvovirus B19
A Hemauer, A Gigler, R Gareus, A Reichle, H Wolf and S Modrow
Institut fur Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Regensburg, Germany.
Parvovirus B19 is the only member of the Parvoviridae family known to cause
disease in humans. Owing to the high level of cell tropism the virus can
only replicate in proliferating and differentiating erythroid precursor
cells, which are present in human bone marrow and foetal liver. As human
bone marrow is very difficult to obtain, an alternative in vitro system for
the propagation of B19 virus has been developed, based on the application
of mobilized haemapoietic progenitor (apheresis) cells. These cells are
routinely harvested from cancer patients after treatment with recombinant
human granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Replication of
parvovirus B19 in vitro is possible in these cells after stimulation with
erythropoietin. Therefore, this system is an easily, accessible alternative
to the use of human bone marrow in parvovirus B19 infection assays.
