Hamster brain tumor cells persistently infected with measles-subacute sclerosing panencephalitis virus.

A persistent infection was established in a cell line derived from a hamster brain tumor (HBT) with the HBS strain of measles-subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) virus. The persistently infected cells (HBT-M) were studied with regard to their growth in vitro and their transplantability in vivo. Although the growth of the HBT-M cells paralleled that of the HBT cells in vitro their transplantability was decreased in weanling hamsters. Hydrocortisone treatment of the hamsters abrogated the lowered transplantability restoring the tumor-producing capacity to levels comparable to the HBT cells. The decreased cell growth of the HBT-M cells in vivo was attributed to the acquisition of measles virus (MV) antigens and the host immune response directed against these new antigens.