Characterization of somatically acquired ecotropic and mink cell focus-forming viruses in lymphomas of AKXD recombinant inbred mice.

The DNA of lymphomas from 12 AKXD recombinant inbred mouse strains was analyzed to determine the presence of somatically acquired ecotropic and mink cell focus-forming proviruses. Mink cell focus-forming proviruses were associated primarily with T-cell lymphomas, whereas ecotropic proviruses were associated with lymphomas of B-cell and myeloid lineages. A model based on the results is proposed to explain the variation in lymphoma types observed in different AKXD strains.