Lung Carcinoma of Sheep (Jaagsiekte). III. Lymph Node, Blood, and Immunoglobulin

Abstract

Pulmonary carcinoma syndrome of sheep, characterized by progressive tumor-cell growth in the lungs and by metastatic involvement of various organs, also had consistent organ and blood effects. The lymph node architecture in diseased animals was destroyed to a varying extent, distinctive by a marked depletion of lymphocytes and germinocytes, by plasma cell hyperplasia with various intracellular inclusion bodies, and by reticulocytosis. Furthermore, an extreme hyperglobulinemia, characterized by increase in the β1- and total γ-globulins and in the amount of slow-moving lipoproteins, was found in sera of diseased sheep. Ultracentrifugal analysis and immunoelectrophoresis indicated that the hyperglobulinemia occurred mainly in the 7S-IgG fraction. A low percentage of lung tumor cells reacted positively with both normal and affected sera in the indirect immunofluorescent antibody test and less frequently when fluorescein isothiocyanate-tagged antisheep globulin antiserum was directly applied on the tumor cell. However, no line of precipitation occurred between the sheep sera and the tumor extract in the gel diffusion test.