Summary:

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) seeks licensees for a human T-cell line, C8166-45, transformed by HTLV-1. C8166-45, also known as C63/CRII-2, contains three transcriptionally active proviruses useful for testing biological activities involved in T-cell immortalization and growth.

Description of Technology:                                                                          

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) was the first human retrovirus reported and is recognized as an etiological agent of adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). However, only a small percentage of individuals develop symptomatic ATL which carries a poor prognosis. The latency period can last for decades and universal screening for HTLV-1 infection has ceased. Thus, the C8166-45 cell line is a necessary component for understanding the mechanisms of HTLV-1 infection and improving clinical outcomes.

NCI researchers derived C8166-45 by cocultivation or fusion of umbilical cord blood lymphocyte with T-cells cultures from leukemia-lymphoma patients. It is highly permissive to HIV-1 infection and characterized for its suitability in replication-competent lentiviral (RCL) assays to assess its safety for gene therapy products, such as lentiviral vectors. This cell line is highly useful in studying viral protein interactions, immortalization of human T-cells, and HIV replication.

NCI is seeking parties to non-exclusively license the C8166-45 cell line.

Potential Commercial:  

• Investigation of HTLV pathogenesis and replication
• Studies of virus-induced T-cell transformation
• Studies of HTLV expression regulation by human T-cells
• Studies of HIV replication

Competitive Advantages:

• Contains a low amount of viral proteins
• Does not release detectable virus particles
• Suitable for testing RCL assay sensitivity