title: Mouse mammary tumor viruses expressed by RIII/Sa mice with a high incidence of mammary tumors interact with the V beta-2- and V beta-8-specific T cells during viral infection.
abstract: The mouse mammary tumor viruses (MMTVs) that induce mammary adenocarcinomas in mice are transmitted from mother to offspring through milk. MMTV infection results in the deletion of specific T cells as a consequence of interaction between the MMTV-encoded superantigen (Sag) and specific V beta chains of the T cell receptor. The specificity and kinetics of T cell deletion for a number of highly oncogenic MMTVs, such as C3H- and GR-MMTVs, have been studied in great detail. Some work has also been done with the MMTVs expressed in two substrains of RIII mice, BR6 and RIIIS/J, but the nature of the interaction between T cells and the virus(es) that the parental RIII-strain of mice express has not been investigated. Since RIII mice (designated henceforth as RIII/Sa) have a very high incidence (90-98%) of mammary tumors, and they have been extensively used in studies of the biology of mammary tumor development, we have presently determined the pattern of V beta-T cell deletion caused by RIII/Sa-MMTV-Sag(s) during viral infection. T cells were isolated from lymph nodes and thymus of young RIII/Sa mice, as well as from BALB/c (BALB/cfRIII/Sa), C57BL (C57BLfRIII/Sa), and RIIIS/J (RIIIS/JfRIII/Sa) mice after they were infected with RIII/Sa-MMTV(s) by foster nursing. The composition of the T cells was analyzed by FACS using a panel of monoclonal antibodies specific to a variety of V betas. Our results show that milk-borne RIII/Sa-MMTV(s) infection leads to the deletion of CD4(+) V beta-2, and to a lesser extent V beta-8 bearing peripheral and central T cells in RIII/Sa, RIIIS/J, BALB/c, and C57BL mice. Our results are in contrast to the findings that C3H-, GR-, and BR6-MMTVs delete V beta-14- and/or V beta-15-specific T cells.
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015994:Incidence; D007774:Lactation; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000821:virology; D008324:Mammary Tumor Virus, Mouse / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008892:Milk / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000821:virology; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta