Coggin J H, Oakes J E, Huebner R J, Gilden R
Nature. 1981 Mar 26;290(5804):336-8. doi: 10.1038/290336a0.
An outbreak of horizontally transmitted malignant lymphoma in an experimental hamster holding facility was previously reported. Retroviridae (oncornavirus) or other conventional oncogenic viruses (oncodnaviruses) could not be detected in these lymphomas by immunological methods, direct isolation procedures or electron microscopy but an infectious agents was clearly involved. The incidence of lymphomas during five recurrent epidemics ranged from 50 to 90% in young, inbred and random-bred Syrian golden hamster exposed. The agent seemed to be resistant to UV inactivation, formaldehyde vapour and other viricidal agents (chlorine and iodine), and stable for long periods in the absence of hamster hosts in the contaminated facility. Associated disease syndromes in exposed hamster included severe enteritis, pyelonephritis, the occasional appearance of warts, poor breeding efficiency and intussusception. We now report the successful, cell-free isolation of an unusual, filterable agent prepared in protamine sulphate buffer from primary and animal-passaged lymphomas, which produces lymphomas with good efficiency when injected subcutaneously (s.c.) into newborn Syrian inbred (LSH) and random-bred (LVG) hamster. The agent could be reisolated from these induced lymphomas and injected into other hamsters to reproduce the neoplastic condition. It showed characteristics suggested for a mammalian viroid (a non-encapsidated, DNase-sensitive low-molecular-weight, disease-causing, self-replicating, naturally infectious nucleic acid).
先前曾报道在一个实验性仓鼠饲养设施中发生了水平传播的恶性淋巴瘤疫情。通过免疫方法、直接分离程序或电子显微镜检查，在这些淋巴瘤中未检测到逆转录病毒科（肿瘤病毒）或其他传统致癌病毒（肿瘤DNA病毒），但显然涉及一种感染因子。在五次反复流行期间，暴露的年轻、近交和随机繁殖的叙利亚金仓鼠中淋巴瘤的发病率在50%至90%之间。该病原体似乎对紫外线灭活、甲醛蒸气和其他杀病毒剂（氯和碘）具有抗性，并且在受污染设施中没有仓鼠宿主的情况下能长期保持稳定。暴露仓鼠的相关疾病综合征包括严重肠炎、肾盂肾炎、偶尔出现的疣、繁殖效率低下和肠套叠。我们现在报告，成功地从原发性和动物传代的淋巴瘤中，在硫酸鱼精蛋白缓冲液中无细胞分离出一种不寻常的、可过滤的病原体，当将其皮下注射到新生的叙利亚近交（LSH）和随机繁殖（LVG）仓鼠中时，能高效诱发淋巴瘤。该病原体可从这些诱发的淋巴瘤中重新分离出来，并注射到其他仓鼠中以重现肿瘤状态。它表现出了哺乳动物类病毒（一种无衣壳、对DNA酶敏感、低分子量、致病、自我复制、自然感染的核酸）所具有的特征。
