Spontaneous excretion of virus from MDCK cells persistently infected with influenza virus A/PR/8/34

When MDCK cells in a semiconfluent monolayer were infected with 5 p.f.u. per cell of influenza virus A/PR/8/34 (H1N1), a majority of the cells continued to grow stably upon subsequent cultivation with a growth medium containing 50% foetal calf serum. While growing, the cells spontaneously excreted virus, the amount of which declined gradually as the passage number of the cells increased. The extent of virus shedding was significantly increased when the cells were subsequently maintained in a medium containing 0.2% bovine serum albumin. Within the cells, viral messenger RNAs for all eight genes of A/PR/8 were demonstrated by PCR indicating that endogenous viral genes were constitutively transcribed. However, viral proteins as well as viral genes were not demonstrable by radioimmunoprecipitation or ribonuclease protection assays, respectively.