Characterization of the AKR thymic microenvironment and its influence on thymocyte differentiation and lymphoma development.

The thymic stroma has long been implicated in AKR thymic leukaemia. In this study an extensive panel of monoclonal antibodies was used to investigate changes in the AKR thymic microenvironment, in parallel with thymocyte differentiation of normal (2 month), preleukaemic (5-7 month) and leukaemic (> 7 month) mice. We found select alterations in the thymic stroma, including a loss of isolated medullary antigens and changes in MTS 32, a mAb detecting an antigen on both thymocytes and stroma in the thymic cortex. Stromal alterations were accompanied by shifts in thymocyte differentiation and the appearance of the leukaemogenic mink cell focus-forming (MCF) murine leukaemia virus.