Research on the mechanism of disease progression of bovine leukemia virus-induced lymphoma in young cattle

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The bovine leukemia virus (BLV) causes malignant B-cell lymphoma after a long latent period. A growing number of cases of the lymphoma in young cattle have been reported in recent years. However, many aspects of the BLV-induced lymphoma are still poorly understood. In this study, it was observed that IgM high expressing-B cells were increased in number in blood from BLV-infected cattle, and were prone to express BLV antigens as compared to IgM low expressing-B cells. IgM low expressing-B cells showed higher expression levels of the Tax/Rex mRNA, PD-L1 and some proto oncogenes (e. g. Maf, Jun and Fos). Indeed, IgM low expressing-B cells or IgM nagative B cells were major cell populations in the lymphoma from BLV-infected cattle in clinical cases (n=14), meanwhile IgM high expressing-B cells were very few. These data indicated that IgM low expressing-B cells are superior to evade from immune surveillance system and to become neoplastic clones.