Cell-to-Cell Contacting Is an Effective Pathway for Epstein-Barr Virus to Spontaneously Infect Human Epithelial Cells
Abstract: Human immortal epithelial cell line-Hacat cells without expression of CR2(complement receptor 2, CR2) and polymeric immunoglobulin receptor(pIgR) were co-cultivated with marmoset lymphocyte line-B95-8 cells producing EBV for infection by cell-to-cell contacting. After a week, all the B95-8 cells were removed to keep only Hacat cells, and an ameliorated method was applied to determine whether the former was eradicated or not. When there were no contaminated B95-8 cells in those residual Hacat cells, EBV infection was detected and confirmed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and in situ Hybridization(ISH), respectively. The results showed that the ameliorated method was sensitive, simple and convenient for detecting the contamination of B95-8 cells, and the Hacat cells can be effectively infected by EBV when co-cultivated with B95-8 cells, suggesting that there is a new pathway other than cell-to-cell fusing and CR2 or pIgR mediating for EBV to infect epithelial cells. This study simplified the method of infection via cell-to-cell contacting, and laid the foundation for establishing the model with EBV to spontaneously and effectively infect epithelial cells.