Evidence for a protein related immunologically to the jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus in some human lung tumours.
Human bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) is a lung cancer, morphologically similar to an endemic contagious lung neoplasm of sheep called sheep pulmonary adenomatosis (SPA) or jaagsiekte. SPA is caused by an exogenous type B/D retrovirus (jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV)), which prompted the present study to obtain evidence of a retrovirus in BAC. A panel of 249 human lung tumours, 21 nontumour lung lesions, four normal lung tissues, 23 adenocarcinomas from other organs and a cell line expressing a human endogenous retrovirus protein was examined immunohistochemically using a rabbit antiserum directed against the JSRV capsid protein. Specific staining was detected only in the cytoplasm of recognizably neoplastic cells in the pulmonary alveoli of 39 of 129 (30%) BACs, 17 of 65 (26%) lung adenocarcinomas and two of seven large cell carcinomas. The remaining samples were negative. These results support the hypothesis that some human pulmonary tumours may be associated with a jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus-related retrovirus, warranting further studies.
De las Heras
M
M
Departamento de Patologia Animal, Universidad de Zaragoza, Saragossa, Spain.
Barsky
S H
SH
Hasleton
P
P
Wagner
M
M
Larson
E
E
Egan
J
J
Ortin
A
A
Gimenez-Mas
J A
JA
Palmarini
M
M
Sharp
J M
JM
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism*; D002282:Adenocarcinoma, Bronchiolo-Alveolar / Q000378:metabolism*; D018287:Carcinoma, Large Cell / Q000378:metabolism*; D002460:Cell Line; D006801:Humans; D022141:Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus / Q000378:metabolism*; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000378:metabolism; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000378:metabolism; D012016:Reference Values; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
D014764:Viral Proteins