title: Early B-cell precursors in scid mice: normal numbers of cells transformable with Abelson murine leukemia virus (A-MuLV).
abstract: scid mice lack detectable B and T lymphocytes; there are no typical pre-B cells as defined by c mu and surface markers in their bone marrow and their thymus contains only 1% of the normal number of cells. In these characters scid mice seem to lack lymphoid stem cells. However, some mice have detectable serum immunoglobulin and others develop thymomas; both observations indicate that the block in lymphoid development is not absolute. To determine whether scid mice have any B-cell precursors, we looked for pre-B cells by their ability to be transformed by Abelson murine leukemia virus (A-MuLV). Surprisingly, scid mice contain as many B-cell precursors transformable with A-MuLV as normal control mice. Cell-surface markers specific for pre-B and B cells were detected on the A-MuLV-transformed bone marrow cells of both scid and normal mice, indicating that the A-MuLV-transformed cells belong to the B lineage. Interestingly, the same surface markers were undetectable on nontransformed scid bone marrow cells. We conclude from these results that scid mice have normal numbers of early B-cell precursors but that their differentiation into functional B cells is severely impaired.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Fulop
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Bosma
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bosma
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Phillips
mesh_terms: D000011:Abelson murine leukemia virus; D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D007153:Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D009052:Leukemia Virus, Murine; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains / Q000276:immunology*