Transduction of Herpesvirus saimiri‐Transformed T Cells with Exogenous Genes of Interest

Human T cells can be transformed and expanded with herpesvirus saimiri (HVS). HVS-transformed T cells from patients have facilitated the study of a broad range of primary immunodeficiencies (PID) in which T-cell development or function is altered. However, the utility of HVS-transformed T cells for genetic studies has been limited by technical challenges in the expression of exogenous genes, including wild-type or mutant alleles. A novel, gamma retrovirus–based method for the simple and reliable transduction, purification, and study of HVS-transformed T cells is described. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Keywords: herpesvirus saimiri-transformed T cells; HVS-transformed T cell; retrovirus; transduction; T cells