The effects of leukemosuppressive immunotherapy on bone marrow infectious cell centers in AKR mice

The bone marrow of AKR mice is the richest source of infectious ecotropic cell centers (ICCs) during the neonatal period. The bone marrow ICCs reside in a low-density population expressing high levels of viral glycoprotein (gp71) and Class I histocompatibility antigens (H-2Kk). In addition, ICCs are enriched in the lymphoid band of Ficoll-Hypaque-fractionated bone marrow, the adherent population of nylon wool separated cells and among the low-density subpopulation of Percoll-fractionated marrow. The observed dichotomy between viral antigen expression and actual virus production suggests that actively cycling cells may be the primary virus producers in the AKR bone marrow. The phenotypic and physical data indicate that bone marrow stem cells and/or prothymocytes may be among the initial virus producing cells in the AKR bone marrow. Leukemosuppressive antiviral immunotherapy delays the appearance of ICCs in the bone marrow but does not exert any major long-term changes on the populations of cells present.