Fig 1.
Detection of PERV genes expressed from PERV/NIH3T3 cells by PCR.
(A) PCR products of PERV pol gene by nested PCR from gDNA isolated from five cell lines (Nos. 1–5) of PERV/NIH3T3. (B) RT-PCR products of the PERV pol gene from the supernatants of five PERV/NIH3T3 cell lines. Lane Non, non-transfected NIH3T3 cells. Arrows indicate the expected size of amplified pol.
Fig 2.
Percentage of PERV-positive organs from mice transplanted with PERV/NIH3T3 or PK15 in the presence or absence of CsA.
PERV-positive organs were analyzed based on genomic DNA from individual organs of mice transplanted with PERV/NIH3T3 (mPERV) and PK15 (pPERV) by PCR. *: PERV was not detected in all organs.
Table 1.
Percentages of PERV-positive organs from mice transplanted with PERV/NIH3T3 or PK15 with no or CsA treatment.
Table 2.
PERV-positive organs in infected mice.
Fig 3.
Immunohistochemical detection of PERV env protein from spleen of PERV-infected mice.
Immunohistochemistry was performed in spleens from CsA-non treated mice transplanted with NIH3T3 cells (A), non-treated mice transplanted with PERV/NIH3T3 cells (B), CsA-treated mice transplanted with PERV/NIH3T3 cells by subcutaneous injection (C), and CsA-treated mice transplanted with PERV/NIH3T3 cells by the kidney capsule method (D). Arrowheads in (C) and (D) indicate staining of PERV env protein as brown spots.
Fig 4.
PCR detection of PERV pol, neomycin-resistant, and porcine mitochondrial COII genes in mice transplanted with PERV/NIH3T3 or PK15 cells.
PERV pol (200bp), neomycin-resistant (300bp), porcine mitochondrial COII (250bp), and murine GAPDH (100bp) genes were detected from gDNA extracted from PERV/NIH3T3 cells, PK15 cells, and liver tissues from Group 1 (G1), Group 4 (G4), and group 6 (G6).
Fig 5.
Body weights of PERV-infected or non-infected mice after CsA treatment.
Weights of animals in each group were measured every week for 5 weeks. Each dot indicates the body weight of mice in CsA-treated (G1, G3, G5), untreated (G7, G9, G11), PERV-infected (G3, G5, G9) or uninfected groups (G1, G7, G11).
Fig 6.
Effects of PERV infection on lymphocytes and CD4/8 cells in host animals.
Cells in splenocytes isolated at 7 weeks post-transplantation were stained with fluorescence-conjugated antibodies, and the number of labeled cells were measured by FACS. (A) Percentage of T and B cells in splenocytes of CsA-treated (n = 24) and untreated (n = 20) mice. (B) Percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in splenocytes of PERV-infected (n = 6) and uninfected (n = 6) mice. *: significantly different between PERV-infected and non-infected groups (Student t-test, p<0.05). The error bars indicate standard deviations.