Oncogenicity of the simian adenoviruses

Five of 17 adenoviruses of rhesus or cynomolgus monkey origin induced tumors in newborn hamsters. The tumors appeared between 42 and 280 days after subcutaneous inoculation and had the general characteristics of lymphomas. The tumors were specific by cross-complement fixation tests. An adenovirus recovered from Cercopithecus monkeys appeared to be highly oncogenic; all 23 inoculated hamsters developed tumors within 30 to 40 days.