Construction and characterization of an adenovirus type 5/adenovirus type 12 recombinant virus

We have constructed an adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) recombinant virus in which the early region 1b (E1b) of the nononcogenic Ad5 is replaced by the E1b region of the highly oncogenic Ad12. Analysis of cells lytically infected with the recombinant virus showed that both the Ad5 E1a genes and the Ad12 E1b genes are faithfully expressed. The recombinant virus replicates efficiently in human embryonic kidney cells and in HeLa cells, indicating that the Ad12 E1b region can fully replace the Ad5 E1b region in lytic infection. Inoculation of the Ad5/Ad12 hybrid virus into newborn hamsters did not result in development of tumors. This shows that the E1b region of Ad12, previously shown to be responsible for the high oncogenic potential of Ad12-transformed cells in nude mice is not capable of converting the nononcogenic Ad5 into an oncogenic virus.