Human Skin Fibroblasts Are Nonpermissive to Coxsackie B4 Infection: an Age-Dependent Phenomenon

Abstract
Human ski fibroblasts were previously shown to be resistant to coxsackievirus B4 infection. Fibroblasts were cultured from skin and lung tissues of donors of various ages. By a novel method for direct assay of virus adsorption and penetration, skin fibroblasts from young fetuses were shown to be susceptible to coxsackie virus B4 infection; those from older fetuses, children and adults are not and this refractoriness apparently is caused by a tissue-specific block to virus penetration.