Individual tumors of multifocal EB virus-induced malignant lymphomas in tamarins arise from different B-cell clones.

Cotton-top tamarins were inoculated with sufficient Epstein-Barr virus to induce multiple tumors in each animal within 14 to 21 days. The tumors consisted of large-cell lymphomas that contained multiple copies of the Epstein-Barr virus genome and generated Epstein-Barr virus-carrying cell lines showing no detectable consistent chromosomal abnormality. Hybridization of tumor DNA with immunoglobulin gene probes revealed that each lymphoma was oligo- or monoclonal in origin and that individual tumors from the same animal arose from different B-cell clones. Thus the virus induced multiple transformation events in tamarins in vivo to cause malignant tumors resembling the Epstein-Barr virus-associated lymphomas of patients with organ transplants.