Neoplastic transformation induced by simian virus 40 in syrian hamster neuroglial and meningeal cell cultures

Summary

Inoculation of simian virus 40 in dispersed cell cultures prepared by trypsinization of fetal or newborn hamster brain and meninges resulted in early extensive cytopathology and later morphological transformation. The minimal SV40 inoculum required to induce transformation was the same (about 10⁵ grivet monkey kidney culture infectious doses) in fetal and newborn hamster brain cultures as in fetal hamster renal cultures. The transformed hamster brain cells exhibited varied alterations in morphology and greatly increased growth ratesin vitro. The presence of SV40 nuclear neoantigen (T antigen) was demonstrated in transformed fetal hamster brain cells by immunofluorescent staining. Subcutaneous inoculation of six transformed fetal hamster brain cell lines into newborn hamsters resulted in the development of locally invasive neoplasms with histopathological characteristics of glioblastoma multiforme (astrocytoma grade IV), ependymoma and ependymoblastoma, choroid plexus papilloma and adenocarcinoma, fibroblastic meningioma and undifferentiated sarcoma.