Temperature-dependent rosette formation by mouse lymphoma cells as a result of viral hemadsorption

Cells from several mouse lymphomas formed rosettes with nonsensitized foreign erythrocytes through C-type virus particles clustered on the cell surface in serum-free medium held at 4 degrees C. This type of rosetting was found most typically in a lymphoma induced by Rauscher leukemia virus in tissue culture (RD-12), but it also occurred in 23 of 61 spontaneous thymic lymphomas in AKR mice. Chemically or X-ray-induced leukemias and spontaneous reticulum cell sarcomas did not form rosettes. The nature of the rosette formation may be interpreted as viral hemadsorption, with a possible relationship to hemagglutination by murine leukemia viruses. The receptor on virus particles was trypsin sensitive and showed high affinity to serum inhibitors (RIF). Serum rosette-inhibiting activity was assessed by a quantitative rosette inhibition test; rosette inhibition proved widely distributed among species. Physicochemical properties of serum RIF and their function both in vivo and in vitro were described. Rosette formation with similar temperature requirements, previously reported in a mouse lymphoma carrying membrane-bound heterophile cold hemagglutinin, was readily distinguished from viral hemadsorption by its insensitivity to mouse serum RIF.