Brain tumors of owl monkeys inoculated with JC virus contain the JC virus genome.

The DNA from astrocytomas that developed in adult owl monkeys 16 to 36 months after intracranial inoculation with JC virus (JCV) was examined for the presence of the JCV genome by hybridization to cloned JCV DNA. The JCV genome was found to be integrated into the cellular DNA in all tumors examined. There was no JCV DNA in normal, uninvolved brain tissue from the same animals. Integration of the genome occurred at a limited number of sites in the cellular DNAs, indicating a clonal origin for the tumors, but none of the tumors had integration sites in common. In all but one of the tumors, there was tandem, head-to-tail integration of two or more copies of the JC genome. In a tumor which had only one integration site and could be analyzed more extensively, there appeared to be a complete copy of the JCV genome present, although deletions of small portions of the genome would not have been detected.