Studies of JC virus-induced nervous system tumors in the Syrian hamster: a review.

A review has been presented of the essential primary tumors of the nervous system, and of one secondary tumor of the brain, which has been obtained after JC virus inoculation of Syrian hamsters. These results have been compared with results obtained by other authors, testing different group B papovaviruses. Comparisons have also been made with neurooncogenicity results obtained with human adenovirus 12 in rodents and with JC virus in subhuman primates. The similarity of the phenotypically diverse JC virus-induced hamster tumors with human childhood of the nervous system and their usefulness for extended biologic research has been mentioned.