Elimination of endogenous xenotropic retroviruses from peritoneal macrophages in virus-induced T cell lymphoma

Peritoneal macrophages did not support the replication of 136 . 7 and 4SP, T cell lymphoma-inducing viruses, either in vivo or in vitro. Interestingly, endogenous xenotropic viruses, which were detected in more than 50% of the tested samples of peritoneal macrophages of normal C57BL/6 mice, were eliminated from peritoneal macrophages removed from 136 . 7- or 4SP-inoculated, T cell lymphoma-bearing mice. This elimination occurred about 2 weeks after virus inoculation. X-irradiation (400 rads) seemed to accelerate the elimination of xenotropic viruses from the peritoneal macrophages of mice inoculated with the radiation-dependent variant, the 4SP virus. The significance of this elimination of viruses from macrophages following inoculation with T cell lymphoma-inducing viruses is discussed.