[Lack of relationship between viral leukemogenesis and immunosuppression in the mouse]

The relationship between immunodepression and leukemogenesis induced by a murine retro-virus. PLLV-T2, was studied in different strains of mice. Cellular immunity, using as parameters both allograft rejection and graft versus host reaction, was not affected during the early phase of leukemia development. As for humoral immunity, determined by the response to xenogeneic red blood cells and to lipopolysaccharides, no direct relationship between the immunodepression caused by the retrovirus and leukemogenesis could be encountered: in certain strains, such as DBA/2, with susceptibility to leukemogenesis similar to that of BALB/c, no decrease in the immune response was registered during the early phase of the disease. The results obtained demonstrate that immunodepression is not a necessary condition for the clinical appearance of this viral-induced leukemia indicating that humoral and/or cellular immunity would not play an important role as surveillance mechanism against this neoplasia.