Stable ΔN-IκBα Expressing HOS-G (HOS-G/ΔN-IκBα) Cell Line

Human Osteosarcoma (HOS) cells were transfected with a Lentivirus vector to stably express a degradation resistant I-κBα (δN-I-κBα) under the control of a SV40 promoter. Successfully transfected cells were selected for puromycin resistance. As a result of the constitutive repression of NF-κB by the degradation resistant inhibitor δN-I-κBα, these cells are resistant to senescence caused by infection with human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). HOS-G/ΔN-IκBα line can be productively infected by HTLV-1 as it contains a reporter cassette consisting of 18 copies of Tax-inducible HTLV-1 21bp repeat, the HTLV-1 TATA element, the complete R region, and part of the U5 sequence fused with enhanced green fluorescence protein (eGFP). As a result of this reporter element the expression of eGFP is a positive indicator of successful HTLV-1 infection in cells. It is suggested that this cell line can be used to study of HTLV-1 replication in cell culture.