A rapid bioassay to monitor murine leukemia virus infection in mice using cellular gp 71 binding.

A rapid and sensitive bioassay based on the availability of cell surface receptors for the binding of purified envelope glycoprotein, gp71, of Rauscher murine leukemia virus (R-MuLV) was developed to serially monitor viral-induced leukemogenesis in individual BALB/cAnN mice. The specificity of the bioassay was demonstrated by the competition of [125I]gp71 cellular binding with murine ecotropic viruses, purified unlabelled R-MuLV envelope glycoprotein and by antiserum to R-MuLV gp71. In contrast, there was no effect on the [125I]gp71 binding level with the addition of murine xenotropic viruses, R-MuLV p30, or several other proteins. The [125I]gp71 binding level of circulating leukocytes was significantly (P less than 0.05) reduced in mice after R-MuLV infection. The reduction of cellular gp71 binding developed in two stages and the latter stage was highly dependent (P less than 0.05) on circulating infectious virus titer. Using this technique, the gp71 cellular binding levels of 48-60 individual mice can be assayed in a 4 h period. The advantages of this bioassay compared to standard immunological and tissue culture techniques used in studying retrovirus expression and viral-cell interactions are discussed.