Detection and quantitation of a type D retrovirus gag protein in ovine pulmonary carcinoma (sheep pulmonary adenomatosis) by means of a competition radioimmunoassay.

A heterologous competition radioimmunoassay (RIA) which consisted of 125I-labeled langur retrovirus major gag protein and goat anti-squirrel monkey retrovirus serum was used to detect a type D retrovirus-associated antigen in tumor cell homogenates, lung fluid, and cell culture supernatant fluids of naturally occurring and experimentally-induced ovine pulmonary carcinoma (OPC, sheep pulmonary adenomatosis). In this assay, there was no cross reactivity between structural proteins of the type D retrovirus and an ovine lentivirus, which frequently co-infects OPC-affected sheep. The sensitivity of the assay was similar to an immunoblotting assay using antiserum to Mason-Pfizer monkey virus major gag protein which had been used previously to detect the OPC retrovirus antigen in tumor homogenates and lung fluids of OPC-affected sheep. All unconcentrated samples of lung fluid collected from five sheep with naturally occurring OPC or six sheep with experimentally induced OPC competed in the competition RIA. The competition RIA titers of the type D retrovirus antigen in lung fluids of lambs with induced OPC were relatively higher than the titers of this antigen in the naturally occurring OPC cases. The competition RIA detected the retrovirus antigen associated with OPC in the culture fluids of four out of five primary lung cultures from OPC sheep tested between 1 and 56 days after culture initiation. Because this RIA is appropriate for the quantitation of OPC-associated antigen, it will provide a means for determination of the target cell type for OPC virus replication in vitro.

Retrovirus-associated ovine pulmonary carcinoma (sheep pulmonary adenomatosis) and lymphoid interstitial pneumonia. I. Lesion development and age susceptibility.

To determine the lesion development of retrovirus-induced ovine pulmonary carcinoma (OPC), ten neonatal lambs were inoculated intratracheally with either 1) lung fluid preparations derived from a sheep with Type D retrovirus-associated OPC and concurrent ovine lentivirus (OvLV)-associated lymphoid interstitial pneumonia (LIP) (n = 8); or 2) lung fluid from a sheep with only OvLV-LIP (n = 2). Seven of eight neonates that received Type D retrovirus-associated OPC/OvLV-LIP lung fluid developed both OPC and LIP lesions between 9 and 32 weeks after inoculation. Mild OPC lesions consisted of foci of type II alveolar epithelial cells lining alveoli surrounded by minimal alveolar macrophage infiltrates. More severe OPC lesions consisted of multifocal aggregates of cuboidal to columnar neoplastic cells forming acini or masses associated with abundant alveolar macrophage infiltrates. Lesions of LIP consisted of peribronchiolar and perivascular lymphoid hyperplasia and heterogeneous interstitial leukocytic infiltrates. The two neonates that received OvLV-LIP lung fluid developed rapid and severe LIP, but not OPC lesions. Two lambs (inoculated as neonates with virus-free lung fluid) and three lambs (uninoculated contacts) served as controls and did not develop OPC. To investigate age susceptibility for development of OPC, 20 additional lambs within defined age groups (neonates, 2 weeks old, 5 weeks old, and 10 weeks old) received ultracentrifuged tumor homogenate. Neonatal to 5-week-old lambs inoculated with Type D retrovirus-associated OPC/OvLV-LIP tumor homogenate were equally likely to develop OPC, but lambs inoculated at 10 weeks of age were more refractory to tumor development.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The etiology and pathogenesis of ovine pulmonary carcinoma (sheep pulmonary adenomatosis).

Ovine pulmonary carcinoma (OPC, sheep pulmonary adenomatosis, jaagsiekte) occurs naturally as a contagious bronchioloalveolar carcinoma of sheep in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. The disease is endemic and economically important in Peru and apparently more common than previously suspected in the U.S.A. The tumor is a result of transformation of type II alveolar epithelial cells or non-ciliated bronchiolar cells of the lung. Clinically affected sheep develop dyspnea, tachypnea and often a watery nasal discharge that originates from tumor secretions. The course is progressive and death usually occurs within a few weeks. To study the viral etiology and pathogenesis of OPC in the U.S.A., the disease was experimentally transmitted to neonatal or young lambs with a success rate of 69%. Ovine lentivirus (OvLV), present in the inocula, was concurrently transmitted and induced lymphoid interstitial pneumonia in most animals. While morphological, immunological and other studies implicate a type D or type B retrovirus as the etiologic agent of OPC, this virus has not yet been cultured and the role of ovine lentivirus in the disease remains unknown.

Lesions and retroviruses associated with naturally occurring ovine pulmonary carcinoma (sheep pulmonary adenomatosis).

Five sheep with ovine pulmonary carcinoma were markedly dyspneic and had sporadic coughing; two had copious watery nasal exudate. In four, lesions consisted of multifocal nodules of neoplastic cuboidal epithelial cells in acinar or papillary patterns. Electron microscopically, cells had microvilli, tight junctions, and cytoplasmic lamellar bodies typical of alveolar type II cells. One sheep had a single lung tumor of nonciliated bronchiolar epithelial cells. Vacuolated alveolar macrophages surrounded adenomatous foci. One sheep had a metastatic lesion in the caudal mediastinal lymph node. All sheep had histologic lesions of lymphoid interstitial pneumonia (LIP, ovine progressive pneumonia) consisting of peribronchiolar and interstitial lymphoid hyperplasia, and fibromuscular proliferation; all had serum precipitating antibodies to ovine lentivirus. Lung fluids or tumor homogenates contained a 26-kd peptide that crossreacted with a primate-derived type D retrovirus as detected by immunoblotting or interspecies competition radioimmunoassay. Ovine lentivirus was isolated from concentrated lung fluids or tumor tissues of four sheep tested and from tumor cell DNA of one animal transfected into ovine muscle cells. These studies document the presence of type D-related retrovirus antigen in ovine pulmonary carcinoma (OPC) in the United States and indicate that lentivirus-induced LIP is a lesion frequently associated with this disease.

Experimental coinduction of type D retrovirus-associated pulmonary carcinoma and lentivirus-associated lymphoid interstitial pneumonia in lambs.

Two retrovirus-associated pulmonary diseases of sheep [ovine pulmonary carcinoma (OPC); sheep pulmonary adenomatosis], a bronchoalveolar carcinoma, and lymphoid interstitial pneumonia (LIP) were induced simultaneously in 9 of 9 neonatal lambs. The lambs were killed 8-28 weeks after intratracheal injection of lung tumor homogenate or lung fluid derived from sheep with naturally occurring OPC and ovine lentivirus (OvLV) infection. The inoculated lambs developed multifocal neoplasms of alveolar type II cells or nonciliated bronchiolar epithelial cells, LIP, and pulmonary lymph node hyperplasia, and all produced antibody to OvLV. OvLV was isolated from 6 to 7 lambs tested, and infectious center assay of pulmonary lavage cells from 3 lambs revealed that approximately 1 in 1,000 pulmonary lavage cells contained infectious lentivirus. Neither contact control lambs nor control lambs that received ultrafiltered lung fluid developed evidence of either disease or of OvLV infection. Lung fluid or tumor tissue of lambs with OPC contained a 26,000-dalton protein that cross-reacted with antiserum to p27 to Mason-Pfizer monkey virus, a type D retrovirus. The fact that no antigenic cross-reaction between OvLV and type D retroviruses has been demonstrated supports the presence of two retroviruses in sheep with OPC. Although the contributions of each agent to oncogenesis in this model are difficult to evaluate, the rapid development of two retrovirus-induced pulmonary diseases in experimentally inoculated lambs suggests an etiologic or pathogenetic synergism between these two members of the family Retroviridae.

Ovine lentivirus lymphoid interstitial pneumonia. Rapid induction in neonatal lambs.

For examination of the characteristics of lentivirus-induced pulmonary disease in an animal model, neonatal lambs were given intratracheal injections of high-and low-passage ovine lentivirus (OvLV) isolates. In 6 of 6 lambs inoculated with low-passage OvLV or OvLV from lung lavage fluid, lesions of lymphoid interstitial pneumonia (LIP) developed. In none of 7 lambs inoculated with a high-passage OvLV or 4 control lambs inoculated with medium alone or ultrafiltered lung fluid did lung lesions develop. Systemic distribution of lentivirus was greater and development of lentivirus antibody was more rapid in lambs inoculated with low-passage OvLV, compared with lambs inoculated with high passage OvLV. The number of lymphocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage samples was increased in lambs with lymphoid interstitial pneumonia. The development of lymphoid interstitial pneumonia was markedly accelerated, in comparison with previous reports of experimentally induced lentivirus pneumonia in sheep. In lentivirus-inoculated lambs pulmonary lesions developed comparable to lymphoid interstitial pneumonia associated with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and other human benign lymphoid disorders of the lung. Similarities between the disease manifestations and virologic properties of OvLV and human T-cell lymphotropic virus III argue for the relevance of OvLV-induced disease as a model for human retrovirus diseases. The ability of OvLV to cause accelerated pulmonary disease in neonates may be due to age-related susceptibility factors that enhance the pathogenicity of lentiviruses.

A preliminary serological survey of viral antibodies in Peruvian sheep.

This study reports the sero-prevalence of viral infections in sheep in Peru. Serum samples were collected from 34 mature healthy rams located in 3 different geographic regions of the country (north, central and south). The sera were tested for antibodies to the following viruses: respiratory syncytial virus (RSV); parainfluenza 3 (PI-3) virus; bovine viral diarrhea/border disease (BVD/BD) virus; bovine herpesvirus 1 (BHV-1); bluetongue (BT) virus; ovine progressive pneumoniae (OPP) virus; bovine leukosis virus (BLV). The serological studies showed that 47% were positive for RSV; 82% for PI-3; 3% for BVD/BD virus; 49% for BT virus; 13% for OPP virus. Antibodies were not detected to bovine herpesvirus 1 or to bovine leukosis virus.