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：1970
卷号：67
期号：1
页码：366-376
DOI：10.1073/pnas.67.1.366
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Tests for the group-specific antigen of the C-type RNA tumor virus showed that mouse embryos of all strains tested, at some stage of development in utero, revealed detectable titers of group-specific antigen in one or more of their tissues; younger, rather than older, embryos were likely to be positive, particularly in those strains which normally reveal little or no expression of the RNA genome postnatally. The antigens were found in embryos of low-leukemia strains, free of infectious virus. These new findings support a previously stated hypothesis that the genome of RNA tumor viruses, mostly switched off for infectious virus expression, is vertically transmitted as part of the natural genetic apparatus of normal mouse cells. Since group-specific antigens have also been described in chick embryos and immunological tolerance to homologous group-specific antigens has been demonstrated in hamsters and cats as well as in mice and chickens, the hypothesis has been extended to include vertebrate cells in general. Finally, the high incidence and titers of the group-specific antigen suggest that the genes for RNA tumor virus, which later in life act as determinants of cancer, may be important also as gene determinants in the developing embryo.
