Friend virus-induced erythroleukemias: a unique and well-defined mouse model for the development of leukemia

Retroviruses lacking oncogenes have been known to induce various types of cancer when inoculated into animals. Among these, Friend virus, discovered by Charlotte Friend in 1957, is capable of inducing erythroleukemias when injected into susceptible strains of mice. Since its discovery, this murine model of leukemogenesis has been extensively used to study the multistage nature of cancer. In the past two decades, several oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes, which play critical roles in the induction and progression of Friend erythroleukemia, have been identified. Retroviral insertional activation of Fli-1 and Spi-1/PU.1, as well as loss of tumour suppressor genes such as p53 or p45 NFE2 have been shown to be critical for the induction and progression of Friend virus-induced erythroleukemias. The majority of these genetic changes have also been implicated in various types of human neoplastic transformations. In this review we will discuss the genetic changes associated with Friend Disease, the temporal order during induction and progression of disease, and the function of these genes in both normal erythroid development as well as malignant transformation.