Oncogenic transformation of primary hamster embryo cells by equine herpesvirus type 3.

Infection of nonpermissive primary hamster embryo cells with equine herpesvirus type 3 (EHV-3; multiplicity of infection = 10 pfu/cell) resulted in an abortive infection and the development of several hundred foci of rapidly growing cells. Five of these foci were chosen at random for the establishment of transformed cell lines, designated EVD-1 (equine venereal disease) through 5. These transformed cell lines exhibited altered biological properties typical of transformed cells, including immortality, growth to high saturation density, colony formation in soft agar, reduced serum requirements, aneuploid karyotype, and oncogenicity in syngeneic animals. Subsequently, five corresponding tumor cell lines (EVD-1T through 5T) with similar biological properties were established. All EHV-3 transformed and tumor cell lines have been shown to express EHV-3-specific proteins by indirect immunofluorescence assays employing rabbit antisera to EHV-3 infected equine cells. None of the transformed cell lines were found to release infectious virus by infectious center or cocultivation assay or to contain viral particles by electron microscopy.