Genetic resistance to a Marek's disease transplantable tumor cell line in chicken lines selected for different immunological characters.

The tumor incidence and mortality of Marek's disease (MD) were determined for 471 progeny from four pairs of lines two-way selected for different immunological characters: graft versus host reaction (GVHR) competence, IgG levels, antibody response to rabbit serum albumin (RSA), and anaphylactic shock to BSA. All chicks were inoculated at 1 wk of age with 1 to 2 x 10(6) viable cells of a MD lymphoblastoid cell line, MDCC-MSB1-41C (41 C). Tumor incidence differed significantly between the high (H) and low (L) lines of each GVHR-, IgG-, RSA-, or BSA-selected group. There were also significant differences in mortality rates between H and L lines of all selected groups. The IgG-H, BSA-H, and RSA-H lines were more resistant than their respective L lines. The H line of the GVHR-selected lines was more susceptible than the L line. Tumor regression could be detected only in the IgG- and RSA-selected lines. No definite correlation could be found between genetic resistance to 41C and genetic resistance to MD virus.