title: Genetic determinants of feline leukemia virus-induced multicentric lymphomas.
abstract: Three discrete forms of feline leukemia virus (FeLV)-associated lymphoma have been described clinically: (1) thymic, (2) alimentary, and (3) multicentric. The most common and best-characterized lymphomas are of T-cell origin, generally occurring in the thymus. These tumors typically contain mature T-cells, involve the activation of a distinctive set of proto-oncogenes, and contain FeLV proviruses whose long terminal repeat (LTR) sequences contain tandemly repeated enhancers. Previous studies of a small group of extrathymic, multicentric lymphomas implicated a different set of genetic determinants. The present study expands those observations by examining the lineage of origin, the involvement of proto-oncogenes, and the structure of LTR and env gene sequences in a set of 11 natural, extrathymic lymphomas of the multicentric type. A pattern of genetic events associated with FeLV-positive multicentric lymphomas emerges from this analysis that is clearly distinct from the pattern associated with thymic lymphomas. The tumors do not contain T-cells or B-cells, as evidenced by the germ line organization of TCR beta and IgH loci. Proto-oncogenes strongly implicated in T-cell lymphomagenesis are not involved in these tumors. Rather, a distinct set of proto-oncogenes may be involved. Most striking is the repeated occurrence of an FeLV isolate whose LTR and env gene bear unique sequence elements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112, USA.
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Athas
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prabhu
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Lobelle-Rich
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Levy
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002415:Cats; D004279:DNA, Viral; D015326:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte, Heavy Chain; D015333:Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor; D005256:Leukemia Virus, Feline / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes / Q000235:genetics; D011533:Proviruses / Q000235:genetics; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology; D015682:Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic / Q000235:genetics; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016662:Virus Integration
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D015682:Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C073723:glycoprotein gp70, Feline leukemia virus