The Role of Thymus in Transplantation Resistance Induced by Polyoma Virus

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Abstract
Mice were thymectomized at 3 days of age and then were given injections of polyoma virus 1 to 2 weeks later. Most of the thymectomized mice gained weight at the same rate as the intact controls and produced polyoma hemagglutinin-inhibiting antibodies with titers as high as did their intact littermates. When these virus-infected mice were challenged with a syngeneic polyoma-virus-induced tumor 4 weeks later, most of the thymectomized mice failed to develop resistance against the challenge, whereas most of their intact littermates resisted the growth of the tumor. Thymectomized mice, which were implanted with Millipore diffusion chambers containing thymus and then infected with polyoma virus, also failed to develop transplantation resistance after challenge. However, thymus grafting did restore transplantation resistance to thymectomized mice, provided virus inoculation was given 4 weeks after grafting.