Different lymphoid cell targets by transformation by replication-competent Moloney and Rauscher mouse leukemia viruses.

Mouse leukemia viruses (MuLV) have been reported to induce tumors involving cells within the T lymphocyte lineage. In the present study, striking differences were demonstrated in the target cells for in vivo transformation by two clonal replication-competent type C viruses, Moloney- and Rauscher-MuLV. Moloney-MuLV-induced tumors and lymphoma cell lines exhibited Thy.1 antigen in the absence of detectable Fc or C3 receptors, indicating their T cell origin. Rauscher-MuLV primary tumors and lymphoma cell lines of the same mouse strain, however, invariably exhibited Fc receptors in the absence of Thy.1 antigen, suggesting that these tumors were of the B lymphoid lineage. The pattern of immunoglobulin synthesis by individual Rauscher-MuLV tumor cell lines was determined by both biosynthetic and radioimmunologic techniques. Rauscher-MuLV lymphoma lines invariably expressed immunoglobulin heavy (mu) chain in the absence of detectable light (kappa or lambda) chains. These findings establish that the target of neoplastic transformation in response to Rauscher-MuLV is an immature cell within the B lymphoid lineage. The demonstration of different target cells for transformation by well characterized clonal strains of mouse leukemia virus should aid in elucidating the mechanisms by which these viruses induce malignancy.