Single subcutaneous inoculation of human adenovirus type 12 (Ad.12), 0.05-0.1 ml of 10(8.0) TCID50 HEK cells/0.1 ml, was made on the back of 0-day-old hamsters. In 21 of 25 hamsters (84.0%), multiple solid tumors developed close to the inoculation site within 3 months. No control hamsters developed tumors. Tumor histopathology revealed the characteristic Homer Wright rosettes of neuroblastoma. Ad. 12-specific tumor antigens were demonstrable in both the primary and the cultured tumor cells by the immunofluorescein technique. Histochemical demonstration of cholinesterase and NADH oxidoreductase gave rise to a predominantly positive intracytoplasmic granule within the tumor cells. Electron microscopy showed remarkably uniform cell morphology: small, undifferentiated neuroblastic cells with poorly developed intracytoplasmic organelles; many possessed characteristic solitary cilia in a 9 + 0 tubules pattern. Intercellular junctions were poorly developed. Search for an incipient tumor cell aggregate by means of immunofluorescein T-antigen detection was carried out through a 240-h period following Ad. 12 inoculation. A sequential study in parallel with electron microscopic examination of the normal subcutaneous tissue proved that neuroblastic cells closely associated with the muscle spindle anlage could preferentially become the most sensitive target for Ad. 12 tumorigenesis.