Transformation by and Oncogenicity of Human Adenoviruses

Just slightly more than 20 years ago, human adenovirus type 12 (Adl2) gained the distinction of being the first human virus shown to have oncogenic properties when Trentin et al. (1962) reported the induction of tumors following injection of the virus into newborn hamsters. Their observations were quickly confirmed and extended to other human adenovirus serotypes and to other rodents (Huebner et al., 1962, 1965; Rabson et al., 1964; Yabe et al., 1964; Pereira et al., 1965), with the result that attention shifted from attempts to develop vaccines against adenovirus infections to attempts to understand the mechanisms by which adenoviruses induce tumors and to determine whether adenoviruses play any role in human malignancy. Although two decades later we still do not know why adenoviruses are oncogenic in rodents or whether they might cause certain tumors in man, adenoviruses have nevertheless become important tools for the study not only of malignant transformation but also of gene expression in mammalian cells generally.