Akv murine leukemia virus enhances lymphomagenesis in myc-kappa transgenic and in wild-type mice

• Published in: Virology (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 206; no. 1; pp. 93 - 99
• Main Authors: Speth, Cornelia, Luz, Arne, Günter Strauss, P., Wendel, Susanne, Zeidler, Reinhardt, Dorn, Silvia, Erfle, Volker, Brem, Gottfried, Lipp, Martin, Schmidt, Jörg
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 1995
• Subjects: AKR murine leukemia virus - pathogenicity; Animals; B-Lymphocytes - cytology; Base Sequence; Cell Differentiation; Female; Gene Rearrangement; Genes, myc; Lymphoma - genetics; Lymphoma - virology; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Molecular Sequence Data; Moloney murine leukemia virus - pathogenicity; murine leukemia virus; Proviruses - genetics; Proviruses - isolation & purification; T-Lymphocytes - cytology; Tumor Virus Infections - genetics; Tumor Virus Infections - virology
• ISSN: 0042-6822; 1096-0341
• DOI: 10.1016/S0042-6822(95)80023-9

The contribution of endogenous retroviruses to the multistep process of lymphomagenesis was investigated in wild-type mice and in two different myc-κ transgenic mouse lines by infection with Akv. This retrovirus is derived from the endogenous ecotropic provirus of the AKR mouse and was previously considered to be nonlymphomagenic. The mice of the two myc-k transgenic lines are predisposed to B-cell lymphomagenesis and were therefore considered to be more susceptible to Akv. For comparison, the same mouse strains were also infected with the exogenous Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMuLV). Both MoMuLV and Akv increased the tumor incidence and shortened the tumor latency period in wild-type mice and in the transgenic mouse lines. The differences in pathogenicity, number of provirus integrations, and level of virus expression between MoMuLV and Akv indicate different mechanisms of lymphomagenesis: while MoMuLV induced tumors apparently by insertional mutagenesis involving common integration sites similar to previous reports, the enhancement of lymphomagenesis by Akv seems to be directed by other mechanisms.