[Properties of pigeon sera containing complement-fixing antibodies to the gs-antigen of the avian leukosis-sarcoma complex].

Pigeons bearing tumors caused by the Schmidt-Ruppin strain of Rous sarcoma virus were used for withdrawing sera containing complement-fixing (CF) antibody to the gs-antigen of avian leukosis-sarcoma complex. In the course of this study it was found that some of these sera, while having a high titer of CF antibody to the gs-antigen of the tumor tissue, did not detect this antigen in chicken embryonal tissue and feather follicles. It is suggested that these sera distinguish different components of gs-antigen in the tumor tissue on the one hand and in the embryonal tissue and feather follicles on the other. There was a correlation in the detection or lack of gs-antigen in preparations of feather follicles and embryonal tissue with all the sera examined. Feather follicles may serve as a convenient source of gs-antigen in practical work.