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Title: EXPRESSION OF MDV GENES IN LYMPHOMAS AND THEIR ROLE IN ONCOGENESIS

Author
item ROSS, N - INST FOR ANML HEALTH UK
item O'SULLIVAN, G - INST FOR ANML HEALTH UK
item ROTHWELL, C - INST FOR ANML HEALTH UK
item SMITH, G - INST FOR ANML HEALTH UK
item RENNIE, M - INST FOR ANML HEALTH UK
item Lee, Lucy
item DAVISON, T - INST FOR ANML HEALTH UK

Submitted to: International Marek's Disease Symposium Abstracts and Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/7/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Mature lymphomas produced in RIR chickens infected with RB1B were examined for expression of viral antigens by immunofluorescence and for presence of viral DNA by in situ hybridization. All tumors examined contained viral DNA in areas of lymphoid infiltration. In 3/5 tumors widespread expression of meq correlated with the presence of AV37+ lymphoid cells. Expression of pp38 was infrequent except for one tumor which also expressed gB. Northern blot analysis of fractions purified by immunoaffinity showed that CD4+ and AV37+ fractions expressed meq and the small RNA antisense to ICP4 (SAR). The results are consistent with the notion that transformed cells are CD4+ cells carrying the AV37 marker and expressing meq and SAR. The tropism of HPRS16/att and CVI988 for different lymphocyte subsets in the spleen was examined by PCR analysis of sorted lymphocytes. The results showed that CD8+ and B cells were infected with attenuated virus at 4 d.p.i but that infection of CD4+ cells was delayed. In contrast, all three lymphocyte subsets were infected with HPRS16 at 4 d.p.i and the CD4+ and CD8+ fractions contained considerably more viral DNA. Marker rescue experiments showed that a single cosmid clone spanning the internal repeats of RB1B could restore the oncogenicity of HPRS16/att. These results provide the first direct evidence for the role of sequences spanning the internal repeat region in oncogenicity.