Virus protein p30 in blood predicts development of leukaemia in mice injected with MuLV

Abstract

ATTEMPTS to monitor by bioassays the fate of murine leukaemia virus (MuLV) inoculated into animals have consistently detected virus in various organs and blood plasma of apparently healthy carrier hosts¹. A correlation of early MuLV titre with spontaneous leukaemia has been demonstrated in mice of the BALB/c × AKR cross². Detection of C-type viral proteins in organs from mice^3–5 has demonstrated a correlation between levels of endogenous viral proteins and the incidence of spontaneous leukaemia. These findings have been confirmed and expanded by the demonstration⁶ that the concentration of the major core protein, p30, of mouse C-type viruses in blood from mice with a high incidence of spontaneous leukaemia (AKR and C58) is a hundred times greater at 2 months of age than in blood of 10 strains with a low incidence of the disease. During a study of the oncogenic potential of an ecotropic MuLV, D2BAL-10, we have found that high concentrations of p30 measured early in life in the blood of animals inoculated at birth with MuLV correlated with subsequent development of leukaemia.