Studies on the Hamster-Brain Passage Virus Recovered From Human Lymphoma Cultures

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Abstract
A virus recovered from a freshly established Burkitt's lymphoma culture, known to carry a herpes-type virus, has been serially passaged in hamsters by intracerebral inoculation. It was not possible, however, to infect animals with the virus from similar long-term cultures. But when cells from such cultures were grown in contact with minced hamster-brain suspension shaker cultures and cells from these cultures were inoculated intra-cerebrally into newborn thymectomized hamsters, it was possible to demonstrate infectivity. Cultures of the minced hamster brain alone were negative when inoculated in the same manner into littermates. Viruses have been established in hamsters from 3 different lymphoma lines and are being serially passaged in weanling hamsters with cell-free brain extracts from infected animals. All 3 virus lines produce the same syndrome of the central nervous system, and by in vivo neutralization tests with specific antiserum have been shown to be antigenically the same. A human lymphoblast suspension culture was infected with the hamster-brain passage virus in its 60th passage in hamsters. The infecting virus was shown to be morphologically and antigenically identical to the herpes-type virus of the Burkitt's lymphoma. Controls on the human lymphoblast cultures were shown to be free of virus.