Multiple occurrence of spontaneous AKR/J lymphomas with T and B cell characteristics.

Three Thy 1.1-positive and surface IgM-positive (Thy 1+, SIg+) AKR/J lymphoma lines are described. These doubly marked tumors arose spontaneously in the peripheral lymphoid organs of 14- to 16-month-old AKR/J mice that either had spontaneous thymus atrophy or had been thymectomized at 1 month of age. All lines bore surface Thy 1.1, Ly,Ig(micron-chain) and Fc receptor (FcR), detectable by immunofluorescence. Immune response region (Iak) antigen was present on the two lines tested. Persistence of Thy 1.1 antigen and SIg after long-term tissue culture provided evidence that these markers were not passively acquired. One of these tumor lines, AkTB-1 always grows in lymph nodes as Thy 1.1-positive,SIg-negative tumors cells, whereas tumor cells growing in the spleen are initially Thy 1.1 positive, SIg negative, but they rapidly acquire SIg, FcR, and 1a between 18 and 21 days of passage.