Persistent infection of some standard cell lines by lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus: transmission of infection by an intracellular agent.

Cell-free cytoplasmic extracts of the Syrian hamster cell lines C13/SV28 and BHK-21F were immunogenic in Syrian hamsters. The resulting antisera cross-reacted completely with antisera against lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) in an immunoradiometric assay employing BHK-21F antigen. Several other Syrian hamster cell lines not previously known to be infected with LCMV were also strongly positive when assayed for viral antigens. Also, several mouse sera and antisera raised in Syrian hamsters against cells transformed by papovaviruses had high titers of anti-LCMV activity. No cytopathic effect was evident in any of the persistently infected cell lines. Culture media from these cells were not infectious and showed no evidence of defective interfering particles. However, cell-free extracts of all the persistently infected cells contained material capable of transmitting the persistent infection to uninfected cells of Syrian hamsters, rats, mice, green monkeys, and humans. The onset of infection is much slower than when LCMV virions are used. When 2 X 10(6) uninfected BHK cells were treated with an extract from 100 persistently infected cells, the new infection was apparent within about 12 days. When an extract from 10(6) cells was used, the new infection was apparent within about 5 days, but not sooner. The intracellular infectious material was sensitive to treatment with deoxycholate, Nonidet P-40, or ether but resistant to treatment with RNase or trypsin. It was also large (5,000S) and heterodisperse on sucrose gradients. The infectious material was probably contained in large lipid vesicles and their integrity was probably essential for infection. When a few persistently infected cells were cocultivated with many uninfected cells, a few discrete colonies positive for LCMV antigens were observed after about 5 days. Since the culture media were not infectious, the infection probably spread by cell-cell contact. Several different experiments indicated that interferon did not play a major role in mediating persistence in this case. Persistent infections by LCMV can be maintained without expression of extracellular virus particles and without appearance of large amounts of viral antigens on the cell surface. Cell-cell contact could still allow transmission of intracellular infectious material. In an animal, these properties could circumvent immune surveillance.