Karyological approach to the identification of true cell lines susceptible to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

A karyological analysis of twenty-two variants of eight cell lines, which differed in their susceptibility to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and which had been obtained from different sources, was carried out by means of differential chromosome staining for G and C bands. The karyotypes of eight T-lymphoblastoid cell lines were identified, including five (MT-4, Molt-3, CEM, H-9, and Hut-78) not previously studied by cytogenetic methods. Karyotyping confirmed the identity of seventeen variants of the eight cell lines, and five variants of four lines were found to be misidentified. Comparative analysis of the cytogenetic characteristics of the three CEM-line variants demonstrates the need for karyotype evaluation in the course of in vitro cell cultivation. Fourteen identical marker chromosomes were revealed in H-9 and Hut-78 cell karyotypes, confirming the common origin of these two lines. It was found that the cells of the HIV-susceptible lines had a tendency to undergo polyploidisation both during the initial stages after isolation and in the course of cultivation.