M. De Las Heras et al., Evidence for a protein related immunologically to the jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus in some human lung tumours, EUR RESP J, 16(2), 2000, pp. 330-332
Human bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) is a lung cancer morphologically s
imilar to an endemic contagious lung neoplasm of sheep called sheep pulmona
ry adenomatosis (SPA) or jaagsiekte, SPA is caused by an exogenous type B/D
retro vi;us (jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus (JSRV)), which prompted the prese
nt study to obtain evidence of a retrovirus in BAG.
A panel of 249 human lung tumours, 21 nontumour lung lesions, four normal l
ung tissues, 23 adenocarcinomas from other organs and a cell line expressin
g a human endogenous retrovirus protein was examined immunohistochemically
using a rabbit antiserum directed against the JSRV capsid protein,
Specific staining was detected only in the cytoplasm of recognizably neopla
stic cells in the pulmonary alveoli of 39 of 129 (30%) BACs, 17 of 65 (26%)
lung adenocarcinomas and two of seven large cell carcinomas. The remaining
samples were negative.
These results support the hypothesis that some human pulmonary tumours may
be associated with a jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus-related retrovirus, warran
ting further studies.