Cytogenic characteristics and virogenic status of lymphoid cells from malignant baboon lymphomas

Four lymphoid cell cultures obtained from Papio hamadryads with malignant lymphomas were studied. The cultured cells produced two lymphotropic EBV-like herpes virus of Papio (HVP) and T-lymphotropic monkey retrovirus STLV-1 (HTLV-1 family) or HVP alone. More than 100 subcultured cell lines were shown to remain mixed B- and T-cellular, the levels of T cells of different subpopulations were 15-50%. Cytogenetic investigations showed that one of the 4 cultures was tumorogenic and the others were derived from the normal cells of monkeys with malignant lymphomas. It is suggested that the presence of a cultural virus (viruses) may affect the karyotypes of cells.