CAPILLARY ENDOTHELIAL-CELL TROPISM OF PVC-211 MURINE LEUKEMIA-VIRUS AND ITS APPLICATION FOR GENE TRANSDUCTION

PVC-211 murine leukemia virus (MuLV) causes neurodegenerative disease following inoculation of neonatal, but not adult, mice and rats. It wa s previously shown that tropism from capillary endothelial cells (CEC) was a determinant of the viral neuropathogenicity. In this study, we demonstrate that host age-dependent replication of PVC-211 MuLV in viv o occurs in CEC in the brain as well as in other organs, such as the l iver, kidney, and heart. In contrast, primary explant cultures of CEC derived from brains and livers of adult and neonatal rats could be inf ected by PVC-211 MuLV, suggesting that the age-dependent susceptibilit y was abrogated in vitro. Although CEC were generally less susceptible to MuLV-mediated age transduction than fibroblasts, treatment of CEC with 2-deoxyglucose followed by inoculation of a PVC-211 MuLV-pseudoty ped vector in the absence of heparin improved the transduction efficie ncy. These observations support the possibility that PVC-211 MuLv may be useful for establishing models of CEC gene transduction.