Expression of peanut agglutinin receptors on virus-induced preleukemic cells in mice.

Preleukemic bone marrow and spleen cells of irradiated C57BL/6 mice that were inoculated with the radiation-induced leukemia virus variant D-RadLV differ from autonomous end-stage leukemia cells in the expression of the receptor for peanut agglutinin. As a result, the preleukemic cells are agglutinated by peanut agglutinin and the end-stage cells are not. This observation provides further evidence that preleukemic cells possess surface markers similar to those of the prothymocyte. In vitro and in vivo thymocyte-virus interactions reveal that cells susceptible to D-RadLV transformation are present mainly among the peanut agglutinin-receptor-bearing thymocyte population which has previously been demonstrated to be immunologically immature.