Immunopathology of natural and experimental lymphomas induced by wild mouse leukemia virus.

Naturally occurring lymphomas of Lake Casitas (LC) wild mice, and the lymphomas induced by LC murine leukemia virus (MuLV) in Swiss mice from the National Institutes of Health, displayed remarkably similar gross, microscopic, and functional characteristics. They spared the thymus, arose primarily in the splenic red pulp, became leukemic, and were comprised of stem cells lacking classic T- and B-cell markers. Cytoplasmic and surface immunoglobulin were undetectable in 34 of 35 spontaneous LC lymphomas and in any of ten LC MuLV-induced lymphomas in NIH Swiss mice. Assays for immunoglobulin secretion, complement (C'3) and Fc receptors, Thy 1.1,2 antigens, Ly 1,2 antigens, and erythroid and myeloid markers were negative on all of the spontaneous and experimental lymphomas. Cell lines were derived from five spontaneous lymphomas of LC mice. Three lines were characterized as null cells, one line as B cells, and one line as macrophages. All cell lines were diploid. The wild mouse spontaneous lymphomas, and lymphomas experimentally induced by LC MuLV in laboratory mice, provide a useful model for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and for study of the early steps of B-lymphocyte differentiation.