Appearance of altered cell-surface fucosyl glycopeptides in concomitance with chromosomal alterations in the gross virus-infected pre-leukemic thymus of the rat.

The appearance of a class of fast-eluting cell-surface glycopeptides that are encountered almost exclusively in malignant and certain pre-malignant cells was monitored in the course of leukemogenesis in the thymus of rats injected at birth with Gross leukemia virus. The altered glycopeptides appeared as early as 15 days after virus injection, when the animals were still clinically healthy and no histological signs of the disease were present in the thymus. Their amount was further increased at 30 days, and reached a maximum in the fully developed lymphoma. The development of this early phenotypic marker of malignancy appeared to be concomitant with that of chromosomal anomalies in the thymus. Since these anomalies are non-random, the existence of a causal relationship between the glycopeptide change and the loss of specific chromosomes might be hypothesized.