Abstract
Summary
Cell cultures derived from foreskins of 19 newborn infants were exposed to irradiated or unirradiated BK virus (BKV), an SV40-related papovavirus infection of man, and were observed for viral cytopathic effect (CPE) and for possible transformation. Four of the cultures were passed serially and maintained for a period of 9 weeks on medium containing BKV anti-serum. All infected cultures developed viral CPE. Irradiation of virus delayed but did not prevent viral CPE. In nearly one-half of the cultures, some regrowth occurred following extensive virus-induced destruction of the cell sheets but the regrown cells, as a rule, remained infected with BKV and could not be passed. In two instances, regrown cells (JV-1 and JV-2) could be passed, and these had some of the characteristics of transformed cells. They were essentially free of BKV viral antigen but contained, in over 90% of the cells, the intranuclear T antigen. They were resistant to superinfection with BKV. In contrast to the uninfected control cells which were uniformly fibro-blastic in appearance, cells in JV-1 and JV-2 cultures were pleomorphic with a predominance of stellate cells and multinucleated giant cells. However, JV-1 and JV-2 cultures were contact inhibited, did not reach high saturation densities, and could not be maintained beyond the 30th passage.
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