Role of Implanted Inbred-Strain Thymic Tissue in the Development of Leukemia in F1 Hybrid Mice2

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Abstract
Two experiments attempting to elucidate the role of the thymus in the development of leukemia and a third experiment testing for the presence of a leukemogenic virus in leukemic cells were performed. Subcutaneous implantation of thymic tissue from mice of strains C57BL and DBA into (C57BL × DBA)F1 hybrids and from strain C57BL and C3H mice into (C57BL × C3H)F1 hybrids was followed in 3 to 4 weeks by injections of 0.02 mg. of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene into the thymic grafts. No tumors appeared in the thymic grafts, and no influence on the incidence of leukemia in the hosts was observed. Subcutaneous implantation of thymic tissue from DBA/2 mice into (CBA × DBA/2)F1 hybrid mice showed no effect, whereas implantation of CBA thymic tissue into F1 hybrids of the same genetic constitution accelerated the development of leukemia in the hosts. No leukemic tumors were found in the thymic grafts. Leukemic tissue from DBA/2 mice was killed by X irradiation in vivo and injected intraperitoneally into (CBA × DBA/2)F1 mice. No influence on the incidence of leukemia was observed. In experiments 2 and 3, the incidence of leukemia in 213 (CBA × DBA/2)F1 mice over 18 months of age was about 50 percent. Most of the leukemias were of the plasma-cell variety; several of them and their transplantation lines showed abnormal serum-protein fractions in the β- or γ-globulin ranges. Several reticulosarcomatoses and localized reticulosarcomas, one atypical, presumably monocytic leukemia, and a number of leukemias, probably lymphatic, were observed.

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