Duck lymphocytes. VIII. T-lymphoblastoid cell lines from reticuloendotheliosis virus-induced tumours

The T strain of reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV-T) obtained, along with th e helper chicken syncytia virus (CSV), from the CS04 cell line was highly o ncogenic and rapidly fatal in ducks. Tumours were mainly seen in spleen, bu t neoplastic cells were observed microscopically in many organs. In vitro R EV transformation of duck lymphocytes failed to yield stable cell lines, so cells from organs (blood, bone marrow, spleen, lymph node, bursa of Fabric ius) of infected birds were used to establish cell lines. Some of these cel l lines have been cloned. The success rates of establishment and cloning we re increased if cells were cultured in a range of media containing differen t supplements; however, medium containing 5% foetal calf serum (FCS) and 5% duck serum was generally most efficacious for initial establishment, while spent medium from the parental line supplemented with a further 20% FCS ga ve best results for cloning. Cloned cell lines had the morphology of lympho blastoid cells, with irregular nuclei and diffuse chromatin, Analysis of mR NA extracted from these cell lines showed that the uncloned lines were stro ngly expressing the beta chain of the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) and wea kly expressing immunoglobulin (Ig) polypeptides [lambda light chain and mu, upsilon, upsilon(Delta Fc) and alpha heavy chains in various proportions], suggesting the presence of T and B cells. The cloned cell lines that could be classified were TCR beta + ve T cells. This is the first report of the establishment, cloning and partial characterization of duck lymphoblastoid cell lines.