Marek's disease virus-induced tumor transplants: development and rejection in various genetic strains of chickens.

This study compares the ability of strains of chickens of varied genetic resistance to Marek's disease (MD) to resist or regress both local and general reactions to transplantable tumor cells induced by a variety of MD virus strains and to transmissible lymphoid tumor cells (Olson's TLT) induced by an avian leukosis-sarcoma retrovirus. Previous studies have dealt with only a single MD transplant. Three conclusions can be drawn from our data: 1) MD virus infection alone could induce progressive tumors at the site of inoculation. 2) Progression or regression of transplant tumors was independent of genetic susceptibility to MD. 3) Incidence of virus-induced host tumors was dependent upon genetic susceptibility to MD.