Abelson murine leukemia virus-induced thymic lymphomas: transformation of a primitive lymphoid precursor.

For the investigation of whether Abelson murine leukemia virus (A-MuLV) is able to transform in vivo lymphocytes other than those of the B-cell lineage, newborn BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice were given an injection of A-MuLV directly into the thymus. Thymic lymphomas appeared with a short latent period of 4-5 weeks in BALB/c mice and 8 weeks in C57BL/6 mice. Cell lines derived from some thymic lymphomas presented a very immature phenotype and did not express cellular markers of either T-cells (Thy 1.2, Lyt 1.2, and Lyt 2.2) or B-cells (cytoplasmic IgM) even after treatment with several differentiation inducers. Molecular analysis showed that T-cell receptor (TCR) beta chain genes were never rearranged; in one case only, rearrangement of TCR gamma chain genes could be demonstrated, confirming the immaturity of the presumptive T-cell lines studied. Furthermore, the cell lines consistently carried diversity (D)-joining (J) but not variable (V)-D-J rearrangements of the immunoglobulin heavy chain genes. On the whole, these findings suggest that following intrathymic A-MuLV injection neoplastic transformation does involve lymphocytes possibly of T-cell lineage, at a very early stage of differentiation.