Persistent infection with adenovirus types 5 and 6 in lymphoid cells from humans and woolly monkeys.

Chronic infection with adenovirus types 5 and 6 was established in primary mononuclear leukocytes from human umbilical cord blood and in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed B lymphocytes from human umbilical cord blood and from woolly monkey blood. Adenovirus could be recovered from cultures of primary leukocytes and of EBV-transformed lymphocytes for two and three months, respectively, without visible alteration of cell growth. Infection in cultures of EBV-transformed lymphocytes from woolly monkey blood was obliterated by exposure to antibody, but EBV-transformed lymphocytes from human umbilical cord blood contained small amounts of virus for prolonged periods that restored infection in the culture when antibody was removed. Thus, chronic infection of lymphoid cells by some adenoviruses is maintained by at least two mechanisms: cell-to-cell spread of virus in the absence of antibody and intracellular persistence of infectious virus in the presence of antibody.