It is incorrect to state that it is not distributed by any vendor, as you can see from the relevant Cellosaurus entry:

https://web.expasy.org/cellosaurus/CVCL_1953

It is available by quite a number of vendors including major cell collections such as DSMZ, ECACC and JCRB.

It does seem that DSMZ will not ship it to the USA but ECACC does not seem to have this restriction. But you will need to ask for a CITES import permit.

Best regards

Amos Bairoch

Thank you very much for the links, I will try to purchase from any of these links. All the vendors I have tried in the US have discontinued carrying this product. I have also tried some international vendors, they cannot sell or ship to the US.

Hi Hazeem,

I ran into the same problem a few years ago. I used ATCC viral supernatant which I believe is still available. I only had a few lines to make so price was not prohibitive to me but if you are making many lines I could see this becoming an issue. See link and attached brochure.

https://www.atcc.org/products/vr-1492

I didn't use this one but it appears to be the same strain:

https://www.atcc.org/products/vr-1492pq

Finally the source appears to be Human lymphoblastoid cell line (883L) which presumably is accessible since it isn't derived from an endangered species as the original B95-8 cell line was. I couldn't find it on ATCC on a cursory search though.

Some useful papers I had laying around regarding that line:

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.274.4086&rep=rep1&type=pdf

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/69/2/383.full.pdf

Thank you, I have placed an order for this virus at ATCC since August, they are back-ordered, so I am still waiting. Since I have no idea if it will be available soon, I have to look for alternatives.

It is not possible to get the cell line. It is forbidden by international agreement(CITES) to sell or provide the cell line for any purpose outside of the benefit of the origin species. Existing holders of the cell lines do seem to be allowed to use them.

It looks like NCPV has some ampules for sale but those maybe back ordered as well:

https://www.phe-culturecollections.org.uk/products/viruses/detail.jsp?refId=1506011v&collection=ncpv

Otherwise your options seem to be to find a cell line the sheds a transforming viral strain ie Human lymphoblastoid cell line (883L) (though not available commercially as far as I can tell)