The spleen in Friend leukemia. I. Prolonged survival of leukemic mice after autoimplantation of spleen tissue.

Friend virus infection of susceptible mice led rapidly to fulminant erythroleukemia and death. Subcutaneous implantation of leukemia spleen bits into splenectomized normal animals led to their early death from Friend leukemia. In contrast, bits of leukemic spleen implanted sc into splenectomized leukemic mice prolonged the survival of these animals. Concomitant with this survival was a reversal of the virus-induced immunosuppression and an increase in the levels of circulating, neutralizing, antivirus activity. This marked difference in response to leukemic spleen implants by leukemic as compared to normal mice reflected previous contact of the former with Friend Virus. Our studies indicated that the Friend virus-infected mouse mounted a resistance to the virus infection, which under certain conditions is capable of reversing the disease process.