Chemical enhancement of simian adenovirus SA7 oncogenic transformation of Syrian golden hamster embryo (SHE) cells

Summary

A method for measuring the ability of chemicals to enhance focus formation by the highly oncogenic DNA-containing simian adenovirus SA7 is described. The standard test consists of a) pretreatment of target Syrian hamster embryo cells with chemical test articles, b) subsequent treatment of chemically-exposed or control target cells with SA7 virus, and c) determination of cellular toxicity and focus formation in chemically treated and control plates. This paper outlines the procedures for performing the standard test and additionally describes a) methods for preparing the Syrian hamster embryo cells, b) methods for preparing the SA7 virus pools, c) criteria for assay acceptability, and d) criteria used to assign an overall call (positive, negative, or equivocal) to a compound based on the results of multiple individual assays.