Induction of lymphoid leukosis transplantable tumours and the establishment of lymphoblastoid cell lines

Primary lymphoid tumours induced by the subgroup A, B, C and D lymphoid leukosis viruses RAV-1, RAV-2, RAV-49 and RAV-50, respectively, have been developed as transplantable “B-cell” lymphoid tumours and designated LSCT-RP5, LSCT-RP6, LSCT-RP7 and LSCT-RP8, respectively. There seems little doubt that these are indeed transplants because all produce tumours and death of the inoculated chicks in a very short time (median days to death = 5-10 days), and chromosome analyses reveal that the sex of the tumour cells remains unchanged when passaged in chicks of the opposite sex. We have established 2 in vitro lymphoblastoid lines (LSCC-RP9 and LSCC-RP12) from the RAV-2 transplantable tumour (LSCT-RP6), but were unsuccessful after numerous attempts with RAV-1 transplantable tumours (LSCT-RP5). The LSCC-RP9 and LSCC-RP12 lymphoblastoid cell lines grow rapidly and produce large amounts of virus. These transplantable tumours and lymphoblastoid cell lines should provide valuable materials for studies on virus-host and tumour cell-host inter-relationships.