期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:1976
卷号:73
期号:12
页码:4680-4684
DOI:10.1073/pnas.73.12.4680
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:We recently reported that thymocytes from 6-month-old preleukemic AKR mice express higher levels of murine leukemia virus (MuLV)-related antigens that thymocytes from 2-month-old mice. We have now found that the level of xenotropic MuLV (defined operationally as MuLV able to infect mink cell cultures) is also markedly increased in thymus of 6-month-old AKR mice and that this increase in virus correlates closely with increased MuLV-antigen expression. There is no increase of MuLV antigen or xenotropic virus in spleen or lymph nodes. Production of ecotropic MuLV remains unchanged with age in thymus, lymph nodes, and spleen. Thymic grafts from 6-month-old AKR mice, but not from 2-month-old mice, induce both amplified MuLV-antigen expression and xenotropic virus production in the thymus of young AKR recipients. Experiments with lethally irradiated AKR mice reconstituted with syngeneic bone marrow cells indicate that age-related changes in the thymus rather than in bone marrow precursor cells are responsible for MuLV-antigen amplification.