title: Stimulation of progressor and regressor chicken leukocytes with Con A, PHA-P, and Rous sarcoma tumor antigens.
abstract: Progressor (Pr) and regressor (R) chickens from the University of Arkansas lines were used as leukocyte donors. Peripheral blood leukocytes were stimulated with two mitogens, concanavalin A (Con A) and phytohemagglutinin-P (PHA-P). Both Pr and R leukocytes displayed the same Con A-stimulated dose dependency on blastogenesis. The regressor leukocytes were stimulated more than the progressor leukocytes at high concentrations of PHA-P. There did not appear to be any correlation between the response of individual chickens to mitogens and their ability to regress a Rous sarcoma. We concluded that the R-Rs-1 gene, which controls the animal's response to Rous sarcoma, and the Con A and PHA-P response genes are probably located at different loci in the chicken genome. Mitogen-induced blastogenesis does not appear to be a useful index to predict regression response in the chicken. Under our experimental conditions, regressor leukocytes showed a sensitization to sarcoma antigens, but the progressor leukocytes did not. The data suggest that the R-Rs-1 gene does not confer a generally enhanced immune status to the chicken but acts as an Ir response gene to augment the immune response to specific antigens.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics; D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009365:Neoplasm Regression, Spontaneous; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D001357:Sarcoma, Avian / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D013936:Thymidine / Q000378:metabolism; D014316:Tritium
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins; C028784:phytohemagglutinin-P; D014316:Tritium; D003208:Concanavalin A; D013936:Thymidine