Modifications of the lymphoid B and T cell populations in spleen and thymus of tumor-bearing hamsters.

Abstract

The golden Syrian hamster has proved to be a useful host for studying cell-oncogenic virus interaction, as many viruses induce neoplasms in this species. The first polyoma-induced tumors in Syrian hamsters were described in 1958 (1). Shortly thereafter, other authors (2) also noted that hamster cells could be transformed by this agent in vitro. After the discovery of the tumor-inducing potency of the polyoma virus, simian vacuolating virus or SV40 also was shown (3,4) to induce tumors when injected into newborn hamsters and to transform hamster fibroblasts in vitro.