Isolation of a Cytopathogenic Agent from Human Adenoids Undergoing Spontaneous Degeneration in Tissue Culture

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Abstract
Explanted in Roller tube tissue cultures, adenoids removed at surgery grew out sheets of epithelium as well as fibroblasts. Although originally grown to be used as substrates for the study of the common cold and other respiratory viruses, the epithelial outgrowth from 33 of 53 adenoids degenerated spontaneously in a characteristic fashion 8 to 28 days after explanting. A transmissible cytopathogenic agent was demonstrated in 13 of 14 instances tested and 1 strain of the A. D. agent was carried for 17 passages, after which it revealed a titer greater than 10-5. The agent did not produce disease in exptl. animals. However, in addition to the human adenoid, human embryonic nose, pharynx, palate, tongue, trachea, skin, muscle, and pancreas, new born foreskin, suckling rabbit kidney, and trachea showed typical cytopathogenic reactions. Microscopic examination of infected human tissue stained with hematoxylin-eosin showed cytoplasmic and possibly intranuclear inclusions. The agent is neutralized by "human gamma globulin" and some individual but not all human sera. Hyperimmune rabbit serums prepd. against the A. D. agent, herpes simplex virus, and vaccinia neutralized only homologous agents in tissue culture. It is concluded that the agent possibly has the attributes of a new virus and that it was present in over 60% of the surgically removed adenoids tested in Washington, D. C, during the winter and spring of 1952-1953. Its relation to the adenoid and to human respiratory disease is being explored.

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