THE H‐2 COMPLEX REGULATES BOTH THE SUSCEPTIBILITY TO MOUSE VIRAL LYMPHOMAGENESIS AND THE PHENOTYPE OF THE VIRUS‐INDUCED LYMPHOMAS

Abstract

SUMMARY Neonatal infection of C57BL/10 mice with cloned ecotropic and/or dual‐tropic mink cell focus‐inducing (MCF) mouse leukaemia viruses (MuLV), induces a wide spectrum of different lymphomas of T, B, and non‐T/non‐B cell types. The H‐2 complex has a marked influence on both the development of lymphoma incidence and lymphoma type. A study using the oncogenic MCF 1233 virus and a series of B10 congenic mice enabled the mapping of the following: (a) Resistance to the early development of T cell lymphomas is controlled by the H‐21‐A locus. (b) Susceptibility to early T cell lymphomagenesis is associated with an I‐A‐regulated low anti‐MCF 1233 envelope antibody response and persistent infection of the thymus. (c) B10 (H‐2b) mice, which are resistant to early T cell lymphomagenesis induced by MCF 1233 or other MuLV isolates, have high anti‐MuLV envelope antibody responses which are I‐A‐regulated. These mice develop more B cell lymphomas late in life in contrast to the early development of T cell lymphoma in B10.A (H‐2a mice. The possible response mechanisms which underlie these observations, including: (1) I‐A ‐regulated immunoselection against MuLV antigens expressed by (pre) leukaemic T cells, (2) aberrant expression of class II MHC antigens on some B cell lymphomas and (3) I‐A‐regulated chronic immunostimulation of MuLV‐expressing (pre) leukaemic B cells, are discussed.