Developmental study of SV40 large T antigen expression in transgenic mice with choroid plexus neoplasia.

Expression of SV40 large T antigen was correlated with the development of pathology in three lines of transgenic mice. Immunohistochemical detection of large T revealed positive cells only in subsets of choroid plexus epithelium, thymus and renal tubular epithelium, which was first observed during the first month of post-natal life. Morphologic abnormalities became apparent several weeks later. Only some of the choroid plexus cells which expressed T antigen progressed to form neoplasms, suggesting the need for one or more secondary events to effect transformation. Tumors did not develop in thymus and kidney.