Cos7 Cells to produce retrovirus - (Nov/19/2009 )

I'd like to find an alternative to Hek293T cells for retrovirus production. I understand that Hek293Ts contain the SV40 and large T antigen. Cos7 also contain these. Would this be a suitable cell type to make retrovirus? I appreciate your insight.

Any reason why you want to switch?
I have no experience with COS-7's so I can't really help you there.

warsel on Nov 24 2009, 09:13 AM said:

This paper notes that Cos cells work better than Heks for retrovirus production. Also, I don't have access to Cos-1 cells right now, but the lab across from us is giving me some Cos-7s. But primarily, I'm unable to use Hek cells in experimentation due to it's origins.
Best

J Virol Methods. 2009 Apr;157(1):47-54. Epub 2009 Jan 14.
Advantages of COS-1 monkey kidney epithelial cells as packaging host for small-volume production of high-quality recombinant lentiviruses. Shannon Smith, Toshi Shioda