Abstract
Summary
Adenovirus type 3 strain JF was propagated in its early passage history in rhesus monkey kidney cell cultures. Upon discovery of infectious SV40 in the adenovirus, further passages were carried out in African green monkey kidney cell cultures in the presence of SV40 antiserum. Following this procedure, two separate passage lines of the adenovirus were free of detectable infectious SV40, but vaccine seeds prepared from these lines (JF-1 and JF-2) induced in hamsters tumors which contained CF antigens identical to those found in tumors induced by SV40. These tumors, in turn, elicited serum antibodies that fixed complement with SV40 tumor and T antigens. In addition, both lots of adenovirus 3 strain JF induced the formation in human embryo kidney cells of SV40 antigen which was detected by the immuno-fluorescent technique. The induction of fluo-rescent-stainable SV40 T antigen in tissue culture was prevented by treatment of the virus with adenovirus type 3 neutralizing antiserum but not by treatment with SV40 neutralizing antiserum. This SV40 genetic material was presumably enclosed within adenovirus capsids. The findings are discussed as they related to the use of adenovirus vaccines in man.
The authors are indebted to Mr. Horace C. Turner for the performance of the complement fixation tests and to Mrs. Lena Wetherell for technical assistance.
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