HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Argaw, T. Articles by Wilson, C. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Argaw, T. Articles by Wilson, C. A. Agricola Articles by Argaw, T. Articles by Wilson, C. A.

Limited infection without evidence of replication by porcine endogenous retrovirus in guinea pigs

Laboratory of Immunology and Virology, Division of Cellular and Gene Therapies, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, 8800 Rockville Pike, HFM-725, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA

Correspondence
Carolyn Wilson
wilsonc{at}cber.fda.gov

Porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) may potentially be transmitted through porcine xenotransplantation products administered to humans. This study examined the feasibility of using guinea pigs as a model to characterize the in vivo infectivity of PERV. To enhance the susceptibility of guinea pigs to retroviral infection or genomic integration, moderate physiological or immunological changes were induced prior to exposing the animals to PERV. Quantitative PERV-specific PCR performed on all tested samples resulted in either undetectable or very low copy numbers of proviruses, even in animals possessing PERV-specific antibody responses. The low copy number of viral DNA detected suggests that PERV infected a limited number of cells. However, PERV DNA levels did not increase over time, suggesting no virus replication occurred. These results in the guinea pig are similar to previous observations of non-human primate cells that allow PERV infection but do not support PERV replication in vitro.