Retrovirus-induced tumors whose development is facilitated by a chronic immune response: a comparison of two tumors committed to the monocytic lineage.

Abstract

An active immune response can under certain circumstances facilitate induction of neoplasms (Schwartz and Beldotti 1965; Gleichmann et al, 1984; Potter 1986; Baumbach et al 1986; Potter et al 1987; Wolff et al 1986; Wolff et al 1988). Our studies, in particular, have shown that a chronic inflammatory granuloma in the peritoneal cavity can promote the rapid induction of myeloid tumors by retroviruses (Wolff et al 1986; Wolff et al 1988). Two myeloid tumors that arose in the peritoneal cavity of pristane-primed BALB/cAnPt mice were (a) the McML, mature monocyte-macrophage tumors induced by retroviral constructs containing exons 2 and 3 of the c-myc cDNA and (b) the MML, promonocytic tumors induced by Moloney murine leukemia virus (M-MuLV).