Can LCM virus cause lymphomatosis in mice?

Summary

Extending earlier observations concerning the occurrence of lymphomatosis in murine carriers of LCM virus [Zentralbl. Bakt. I Orig. 147, 16 (1941)], the effect of linebreeding on the frequency of this disease in LCM-free and LCM-infected mice, both originating from the same stock, was studied. The incidence of spontaneous lymphatic leukemia in this colony amounted to 20 per cent with an average tumor age of 17 months.

In the LCM-free mice, linebreeding by brother-to-sister mating in successive generations resulted in a low incidence of lymphatic leukemia with relatively short incubation periods in 1 out of 6 lines (line F).

The same procedure applied to LCM-infected (tolerant) mice caused a much higher incidence of lymphomatosis with short incubation periods in 1 out of 5 lines (line 11).

The disease in line F corresponded to the classical type of murine lymphatic leukemia as seen, for instance, in AkR mice, while that in line 11 was characterized by a much lower degree of malignancy and designated as lymphomatosis because of the fact that lymphomatous swelling of peripheral lymph nodes was the outstanding feature.

Arguments in favor of the possibility that LCM virus was the cause of lymphomatosis in line 11 are presented and the genesis of the tumorous conditions in lines F and 11 discussed.