title: Isolation and preliminary characterisation of a novel retrovirus isolated from a leukaemic dog.
abstract: A novel canine retrovirus was isolated from mononuclear cells of the peripheral blood of a leukaemic dog. The main clinical and pathological findings in this dog were lethargy, anorexia, weakness, dyspnoea, severe anaemia, thrombocytopenia and a high white blood cell count, practically all of which were lymphoblasts. The virus was isolated from mononuclear cells obtained from the blood, cocultivated with indicator cells. The virus particles encode a reverse transcriptase with Mg++ preference, have a density in sucrose gradients of 1.16 g ml-1, and induce syncytia in permissive cell cultures such as Himalayan tahr ovary and canine fetal thymus lines. This agent replicates to high titres. The virus exhibits a morphogenesis and morphology typical of lentiviruses. Immunoblotting and competitive radioimmunoassays failed to detect immunological crossreactivity with other representative lentiviruses and oncoviruses of the retrovirus family.
authors.affiliation: Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Safran
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Perk
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Eyal
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Dahlberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002499:Centrifugation, Density Gradient; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D015726:Giant Cells; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000032:analysis; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase