Selection of mutants of mumps virus with altered structure and pathogenicity by passage in vivo.

The neurotropic Kilham strain of mumps virus was serially passaged in newborn hamster brains in order to assess possible changes in viral characteristics. Two modes of passage were employed, one with a 4-5 day interval between inoculation and harvest and the other with a 10-12 day interval. After 10 and 8 passages, respectively, two viral variants were isolated which differed in antigen characteristics and in pathogenicity. In Vero cell cultures the variant derived from the short-term passage, designated as RK, showed much greater fusion capacity than the other, designated as SK. The highly fusing variant was highly lethal and caused much more extensive necrosis and grew to higher titers in the brain. With a series of monoclonal antibodies directed against the structural proteins of mumps virus marked differences between the variants could be detected in the nucleocapsid (NP) protein and also slight changes in the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and phospho- (P) proteins. Differences were found in the preference of the viral variants to infect various regions of the brain. The RK variant heavily infected the caudate nucleus whereas the SK variant did not. This study demonstrates that different modes of passage can affect characteristics of virion components and disease pattern.