Functional properties of Ly 11.2 lymphocytes: a role for these cells in leukemia?

Functional studies of lymphocyte subpopulations reveal that Ly 11.2, a newly defined T cell surface antigen, is present on prothymocytes and natural killer cells, but not on suppressor T cells for antigen-specific IgE antibody responses, Ly 1+, 2-, 3- helper T cells nor on tumor-specific cytotoxic effector cells. Changes in the expression of Ly 11.2 regularly accompany leukemogenesis and are quite distinct from changes of other cell surface antigens thus far observed. After intrathymic inoculation of radiation leukemia virus (RadLV), many more Ly 11.2-positive cells are found expressing viral antigens than cells expressing other cell surface phenotypes. In addition, after RadLV inoculation, significantly more Ly 11.2-positive cells can be found in the thymus of susceptible mice than in the thymus of resistant mice. The greater availability of permissive (Ly 11.2-positive) cells in susceptible vs resistant hosts at the time when infectious virus is present may account for the shorter latency period and high leukemia incidence of susceptible vs resistant mice.