Abortive infection of human cell cultures by a canine adenovirus.

Abstract

SummaryThe abortive infection of human amnion cells by infectious canine hepatitis virus (ICHV) was studied. Within 48 hr after inoculation, large quantities of complement fixing (CF) antigen were produced, although infectious virus yields were small. Serial passage of ICHV in human cells, with harvests every 48 hr, resulted in a rapid decrease in infectious virus, but a relatively slow decrease in CF antigen production. If the amount of input infectious virus is taken as a reference, calculations indicate that the ratio of CF antigen per infectious unit increased with each serial passage. This phenomenon was most noticeable after the first serial passage in human cells, or when low multiplicities of infection with ICHV were used. Viral antigens and infectious virus recovered from human cell cultures were found to be the result of de novo synthesis. The mechanism of the phenomenon of the nonparallel production of viral antigens and infectious virus in human cells is unknown, but possible explanations are ...