High-titer SV40 replication in human fibroblast cell lines derived from patients with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome

Human fibroblast cell lines established from skin biopsies of patients with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS), a sex-linked immunodeficiency disorder, were found to have unusually high sensitivity to SV40 infection. When examined by immunofluorescence, two of the cell lines showed almost 100% positive staining for tumor and viral antigens 4 days after infection, while the third cell line showed 75% positive cells for both antigens. Marked cytopathic changes were seen in infected cultures and viral yields of 10(8) pfu/ml were obtained. After six serial passages in WAS cells, the viral DNA was examined by restriction endonuclease analysis and found to have HindIII cleavage pattern similar to that of DNA from SV40 grown in monkey cells.