Transformation of human cells by oncogenic viruses supports permissiveness for parvovirus H-1 propagation.

Parvovirus H-1 has been shown to suppress spontaneous and chemically or virally induced tumorigenesis in hamsters. In human cell culture systems propagation of H-1 is restricted to transformed cells, which are killed by H-1 infection, in contrast to normal diploid cells, which are nonpermissive for H-1. By analyzing the permissiveness of a variety of human cells for H-1, it was determined that the majority of tested transformed or immortalized cells which were permissive for H-1 contained the DNA of oncogenic viruses (human papillomavirus, simian virus 40, adenovirus, hepatitis B virus, Epstein-Barr virus, and human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I). Of six transformed cell lines negative for persisting tumor virus DNA, only two were permissive for H-1, while two were semipermissive and two were nonpermissive. Thus, persistence and expression of tumor virus functions appears to promote full permissiveness for H-1 in human cells. However, neither expression of genes of specific viral genomes nor the transformed state of apparently virus-free cells alone was sufficient to render human cells permissive for H-1. Therefore, the effect of tumor virus functions on H-1 in transformed cells seems to be indirect, probably mediated by cellular factors which are induced or switched off during the transformation process. It appears that similar factors are induced or switched off by 5-azacytidine or calcium phosphate, both known inducers of cellular gene expression.