Inefficient Humoral Immune Response of Lymphoma-Prone Wild Mice to Persistent Leukemia Virus Infection2

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Abstract
Adult wild mice (LC) from a natural colony with a high incidence of spontaneous lymphomas had free infectious virus in their sera (average 103.5 infectious units/ml) and parenchymal organs (average 105.2 infectious units/g tissue). They did not have detectable levels of free virus-specific antibodies that could be demonstrated by virus neutralization or immunofluorescence at higher than a 1:10 dilution. Only 5 of 28 animals had free antibodies detectable by radioimmunoprecipitation assay, and tissues of 4 mice also had nondetectable levels of virus determined by infectivity assay. Formalized vaccine from the indigenous virus did not induce production of virus-neutralizing antibodies or protect against naturally occurring disease. The animals with persistent leukemia virus infection, however, elicited good humoral immune responses to virus-unrelated antigen.