Identification and Propagation of a Putative Immunosuppressive Orphan Parvovirus in Cloned T Cells

A putative parvovirus related to minute virus of mice (MVM), but distinct from MVM-prototype and MVM-immunosuppressive, was identified, using serologic techniques and Southern blot analysis, in maintenance cultures of established T cell clones. This putative viral agent resulted in a lytic infection of cloned L3 cytotoxic T cells but was unable to produce a productive infection in BHK.21 or EL-4(G) cells. Moreover, maintenance cultures of several distinct subsets of cloned T cells apparently contaminated with this putative viral agent contained poorly growing cells and erythrocyte aggregates. The aggregation of mouse erythrocytes appeared to be a reliable indicator of infection with this putative virus and may be related to the ability of this agent to agglutinate mouse erythrocytes. This putative virus also was found to inhibit the proliferative response of certain cloned T cells to IL-2 and Ag. Viremic mice and secondary MLC supernatant were identified as two potential sources of contamination and represent ways of propagating this agent in vitro. The finding that this agent interferes with the ability of T cell clones to thrive and, therefore has the potential to alter immune responses, emphasizes the importance of identifying and excluding parvoviral infections in cultures of murine T lymphocytes.