Wing web or intravenous inoculation of chickens with v-src DNA induces visceral sarcomas.

We have previously found that sarcomas localized to visceral organs frequently arise following wing web inoculation of Rous sarcoma virus. This observation prompted an investigation of whether visceral sarcomas are also inducible by wing web inoculation of a subgenomic viral DNA fragment (v-src DNA) that includes v-src but lacks genes encoding viral structural protein. For this analysis, line SC chickens were inoculated with v-src DNA at 1-2 days posthatch and monitored for 9 weeks. Ninety percent of the chickens developed wing web (primary) tumors at the site of inoculation and, of these, about 30% exhibited visceral tumors. All tumors were histologically identifiable as sarcomas, and both the primary and visceral sarcoma cells were specifically reactive with two monoclonal antibodies elicited to different peptide fragments of pp60v-src. In a separate set of experiments, visceral sarcomas were also observed in about half of the line SC chickens that had been inoculated intravenously with v-src DNA. These results indicate that exogenous progeny virus production is not required for v-src-induced, visceral sarcoma formation. In addition, they demonstrate that intravenous inoculation of v-src DNA is a means to achieve rapid and widespread, disseminated sarcoma growth.