The Suppressive Effect of Rauscher Leukemia Virus on the Secondary Antibody Response of Spleen Cells Cultured in Cell-Impermeable Diffusion Chambers

The effects of Rauscher leukemia virus (RLV) on the immune response to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) were studied in BALB/c mice and in isogeneic spleen cells cultured in cell-impermeable diffusion chambers implanted into irradiated hosts. Primary antibody formation to SRBC was depressed in mice inoculated with RLV. Mice injected with SRBC from 0 to 48 hr after virus inoculation had normal 19 S and depressed 7 S antibody production. Both 7 S and 19 S antibodies were depressed when SRBC were inoculated 3 to 15 days after RLV infection. There was a positive correlation between erythroblastic reaction and immunosuppression in two strains of mice: BALB/c was sensitive and C 57 BL partially resistant to the erythroblastic and immunosuppressive effects of RLV. Antibody production was not impaired in mice inoculated with RLV mixed with anti-RLV mouse antisera providing evidence for the viral specificity of immunosuppression. Antibody production and plasmacytosis were demonstrated in SRBC-primed spleen cells cultured with SRBC in cell-impermeable diffusion chambers implanted into irradiated isogeneic hosts. RLV inhibited the secondary antibody response to SRBC in intact mice and in spleen cells cultured in diffusion chambers. Increase in blast cells, reduction in plasma cells, and depression of antibody formation were found both in primed spleen cells infected with RLV prior to culture and in primed spleen cells simultaneously exposed to RLV and SRBC in diffusion chamber cultures. This system provides a quantitative approach to the study of mechanisms of oncogenic virus-induced immunosuppression at cellular and subcellular levels.