Altered thymic epithelial cells may be decisive for Moloney virus-induced lymphoma development
Infection of newborn mice with Moloney leukemia virus (M-MuLV) causes a T-cell differentiation block in the thymic cortex accompanied by proliferation and accumulation of prethymic lymphoblasts in the thymus and subsequent spreading of these cells to generate systemic lymphoma. Current evidence shows that thymic reticular epithelial cells (REC) provide a microenvironment necessary for the maturation of prethymic lymphoblasts to mature T-lymphocytes by secretion of various thymic factors. A change in that environment due to infection of REC by virus could be decisive for the failure of lymphoblasts to mature and thus contribute to lymphoma development.We have studied the morphology and distribution of the major thymic cell populations at different stages of tumorigenesis in Balb/c mice infected when newborn with 0.2ml M-MuLV suspension, 6.8 log FFU/ml. Thymic tissue taken at 1-2 weekly intervals up to tumor development was processed for light and electron microscopy, using glutaraldehyde-OsO4fixation and Epon-Araldite embedding.