Pulmonary sarcomas in a young chicken

Both lungs of a 5-wk-old broiler chicken contained miliary, round, white tumors. Microscopically, these masses were composed of compactly arranged cells with round to oval nuclei and indistinct cytoplasmic borders. Immunohistochemically, tumor cells were positive for vimentin but negative for cytokeratin, S-100 protein, neuron-specific enolase, smooth muscle actin, and muscle-specific actin. Ultrastructurally, tumor cells were separated by collagen bands and some contained collagen fibrils. These results suggest that the primitive mesenchymal cells composing these sarcomas may have originated from precursors of interstitial cells or fibroblasts of the interparabronchial or interatrial septa. DNA was extracted from paraffin-embedded tissues and probed for sequences specific for Marek's disease virus, reticuloendotheliosis viruses, exogenous avian leukosis viruses, and subgroup J avian leukosis viruses. Only sequences specific for subgroup J avian leukosis viruses were identified in the DNA extracted from tumors and surrounding lung.