Isolation from a transmissible lymphoid tumour (tlt) lymphoblastoid cell line of a herpesvirus similar to marek's disease virus

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Abstract
A chicken lymphoblastoid cell line (TLT)‐6855 originally established from an avian oncornavirus‐induced lymphoma (Siegfried and Olson, 1972) was studied for the presence and expression of Marek's disease virus (MDV) genome. By nucleic acid hybridization a significant amount of MDV DNA was found in this cell line. This virus DNA, however, was not expressed in either virus‐specific intracellular or membrane antigens or the MD‐associated tumour‐specific surface antigen (MATSA). Moreover, MDV‐specific antigens could not be activated in this cell line by treatment with 5‐IdUrd. In several experiments, when chickens were inoculated with the cell line a herpesvirus was repeatedly isolated from the kidneys. This herpesvirus was antigenically similar to MDV but was low in oncogenicity for chickens.