Spontaneous Occurrence of Precipitating Antibodies to the Mammary Tumor Virus in Mice

Summary

By use of the micro-Ouchterlony technique of Crowle, antibodies precipitating B particles From (C3H × 020)F¹ and GR mammary tumors were Found in tumor-bearing and tumor-Free Female mice of strains C3H, CBA, C3HF, GR, and BALB/c and in (C3H × 020)F₁ and (C3H × BALB/c)F₁. These antibodies were directed against a soluble outer membrane antigen of the virion, since the mouse sera did not react with nucleoid preparations of the virus but did so with ether-treated B particles. The mouse antibodies gave Full identity with the particular antibody in a rabbit anti-mammary-tumor-virus (MTV) serum used as reFerence. These findings show that neither in neonatally inFected mice (C3H and CBA) nor in prenatally inFected mice (GR and C3HF) true tolerance existsto that outer membrane antigen, an antigen obviously common to the several MTV strains harbored by the serum donor mice.