Neurologia medico-chirurgica
Online ISSN : 1349-8029
Print ISSN : 0470-8105
ISSN-L : 0470-8105
Immunocytochemical Approach to Virus-Induced Brain Tumors
—From the Aspect of T (Tumor) Antigen—
Kazuo TABUCHIMasahiro TSUBOIHiroshi NORIKANETomohisa FURUTAYoshio MORIYAAkira NISHIMOTO
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1981 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 11-18

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Abstract

Recently isolated human papovaviruses such as JC and BK viruses are not only antigenically related to SV40, but also neuro-oncogenic in experimental animals. Cells transformed in vitro or brain tumors induced by these viruses are usually free of infectious virus. However, the causual relationship between the tumor or transformed cells and the viruses can be immunocytochemically demonstrated by the presence of virus-specific non-virion antigens such as T (tumor) antigen. In the present study, the authors successfully applied a sensitive enzyme-labelled antibody method using Fab' fragment to localizing T antigens in SV40 or BK virus-induced brain tumors and infected cells. T antigens of SV40 and BK virus are immunocytochemically indistinguishable. Positive staining for T antigen is seen as a granular pattern in the tumor cell nuclei, but not the nucleoli, in the interphase and it appears as a loose network of electron-dense reaction precipitates associated with nuclear chromatin, whereas the chromosomes in mitosis do not seem to be tagged with immunoperoxidase reaction products for T antigens. On the other hand, T antigen is first observed in the cytoplasm of SV40-infected cells as early as 3 hours postinfection with subsequent transport to the nuclei within 24 hours. The intensity of staining of T antigen is markedly reduced because of maturation of virions in the infected cell nuclei 24 hours after infection. The authors believe that extensive studies of papovavirus T antigens are necessary to elucidate papovavirus oncology and may provide more information regarding possible viral etiology of human tumors of the central nervous system.

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© The Japan Neurosurgical Society
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