EPSTEIN-BARR VIRUS-INFECTED MARMOSET CELLS TRANSFECTED WITH C-MYC DO NOT FORM LYMPHOMAS IN MICE WITH SEVERE COMBINED IMMUNODEFICIENCY

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been associated with several malignant pr ocesses in man, most notably Burkitt lymphoma in previously healthy in dividuals and lesions resembling large cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas in o rgan transplant recipients. Mice with the severe combined immunodefici ency phenotype (SCID mice) are exquisitely susceptible to the developm ent of EBV-associated lymphoproliferative lesions following the intrap eritoneal tip) inoculation of EBV-infected human lymphocytes. Recently , we reported that EBV-infected marmoset lymphocytes do not form lymph omas in SCID mice following ip injection, while human lymphocytes infe cted with the same EBV strains do. On the assumption that the EBV-infe cted marmoset cells were lacking a factor necessary for tumor formatio n, we transfected a plasmid containing c-myc into EBV-infected marmose t cells (B95-8, FF41, and W91 cells). Despite expression of the c-myc protein as determined by immunoblot and flow cytometry when probed wit h a monoclonal antibody, no increase over baseline lesion development was seen in SCID mice inoculated with 5 x 10(6) c-myc-expressing marmo set lymphoblastoid cells. Thus, cells that express c-myc and harbor EB V are not sufficient to form lymphomas in certain immunocompromised ho sts. (C) 1998 Academic Press.