Shared interspecies antigenic reactivities among hamster and feline oncoviruses

Group-reactive antisera against the major internal protein p30 of the hamster sarcoma virus (HaSV) showed interspecies reactivity in immunodiffusion even with sera of low titer against HaSV. Antisera were prepared by sc injection of virus into male New Zealand White rabbits. The cross-reactivity between interspecies antigens of feline and hamster RNA tumor viruses was stronger than between either virus with murine leukemia virus. Molecular hybridization data, obtained from nucleic acid hybridization between the viral RNA's and complementary DNA's of murine and feline oncovirus origin, were consistent with the immunologic results. THe implications of these observations were discussed.