help button home button Am J Pathol Angiogenesis Meeting
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS

This Article
Right arrow Order Full text via Infotrieve
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hoot, G. P.
Right arrow Articles by Kettman, J. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hoot, G. P.
Right arrow Articles by Kettman, J. R.

American Journal of Pathology, Vol 135, 679-695, Copyright © 1989 by American Society for Investigative Pathology

REGULAR ARTICLES

Primary polyoma virus-induced murine thymic epithelial tumors. A tumor model of thymus physiology

GP Hoot and JR Kettman
Department of Microbiology, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas 75235-9048.

Thymic tumors were induced in C3'/Bittner mice by neonatal inoculation with polyoma virus. The objective of this study was to identify the phenotypes of the cells within the tumors and to attempt to determine the origin of the neoplastic cell population(s). At the ultrastructural level, the neoplastic cells resembled normal thymic epithelium with tonofilaments and desmosomes. Immunoperoxidase staining demonstrated the presence of cytokeratin, Iak, -beta 2-microglobulin, -asialo-GM1, the thymic cortical epithelial marker ER-TR4, and the medullary epithelial marker ER-TR5. Islands of normal cortical thymocytes supported by residual normal cortical epithelium and acid phosphatase- positive cortical macrophages were interspersed in the tumors. Residual islands of normal medullary architecture with nonspecific esterase- positive IDCs were rarely identified in tumors. Most lymphocytes in the tumors were normal immature cortical thymocytes with the phenotype Tdt+, PNA+, Thy 1.2bright, Ly-1dull, H-2Kkdull, ThB+, J11d+, and Lyt- 2+L3T4+. Lymphocytes in the tumors were steroid-sensitive like normal thymocytes. The proportions of Lyt-2+L3T4- and Lyt-2-L3T4+ cells were generally larger in the tumors than in normal thymus and reflected the higher frequency of lymphocytes in the tumors capable of proliferating in vitro in response to Con A plus IL-2. The data were consistent with the hypothesis that the neoplasia originates from thymic epithelium that is interspersed with normal, developing thymic lymphocytes.




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1989 by the American Society for Investigative Pathology.