Isolation and identification of enteroviruses from faecal samples in a differentiated epithelial cell line (HRT‐18) derived from human rectal carcinoma

Patel, J. R.; Daniel, J.; Mathan, M.; Mathan, V. I.

A human rectal carcinoma‐derived differentiated epithelial cell line, HRT‐18, was inoculated with faecal samples in an attempt to grow coronavirus‐like particles (CVLP), which are widely prevalent in human stools in southern India. While CVLP did not grow in this cell line, a variety of enteroviruses were isolated from 48 of the 114 stool samples from healthy controls and patients with diarrhoea. The results suggest that human gastrointestinal tumour‐derived differentiated epithelial cells in continuous culture may be useful for the primary isolation of enteroviruses and merit further study.