Selective tropism of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) for surface immunoglobulin-bearing ovine B lymphocytes.

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is experimentally infectious for sheep. Virus production does not occur in the animals, but only after in vitro cultivation of infected lymphocytes in the presence of phytohemagglutinin. Lipopolysaccharide or dextran sulfate 500 had no effect. After panning separation, it was possible to demonstrate that, in peripheral blood lymphocytes, BLV was integrated in the B lymphocytes only and that BLV expression took place in a fraction of this population. The ovine leukemia may constitute a good experimental model for understanding the virus-induced leukemias of the BLV-human T cell leukemia virus group.