Characterization of T-cell lymphomas associated with an outbreak of reticuloendotheliosis in turkeys

Abstract

Increased mortality and decreased egg production associated with disseminated lymphoma were observed in a turkey breeding flock for more than 20 weeks. A few unrelated meat turkey flocks, from the same integrator, experienced increased condemnation due to neoplasia in a few organs. Lymphoma was characterized by a uniform population of large lymphocytes with large vesicular nuclei containing one or two nucleoli and with little, faintly staining, basophilic cytoplasm. Neoplastic cells replaced normal tissue and were consistent with lesions seen with reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) infection. Immunoperoxidase and fluorescent antibody staining characterized the neoplastic cells as CD3+, CD4+ and CD8-lymphocytes. Infection with REV was confirmed by virus isolation, polymerase chain reaction, serology and indirect fluorescent antibody. Poults hatched from these breeders tested positive for REV antibodies at hatch, but the performance of these flocks was normal and lymphoma was not observed. The origin of REV infection in this outbreak could not be determined. This is the first documented report of T-cell lymphomas associated with REV in commercial flocks. Furthermore, this is the first time that lymphomas have been characterized as T helper cells (CD3+ CD4+ and CD8-) in an outbreak of REV in turkeys.

Avian leukosis virus subgroup J associated with the outbreak of erythroblastosis in chickens in China

“…The tissue sections were stained with a routine streptavidin biotin/horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated immunohistochemical technique as described by [11]. Briefly, the sections were pre-treated with 3% hydrogen peroxide in methanol, and blocked with 5% bovine serum albumin in PBS for 10 min.…”

Characterization of reticuloendotheliosis virus isolates obtained from broiler breeders, turkeys, and prairie chickens located in various geographical regions in the United States

“…However, using monoclonal antibodies (Cui et al, 1986(Cui et al, , 1988, REV isolates can be classed into three distinct subtypes, 1, 2 and 3 (Chen et al, 1987). REV infects chickens, Attwater prairie chickens, Greater prairie chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, pheasants, quail, and probably many other avian species (Witter et al, 1970(Witter et al, , 1981Purchase et al, 1973;Dren et al, 1983Dren et al, , 1988Dren et al, , 1998Fadly et al, 1996a;Crespo et al, 2002;Chen et al, 2006;Zavala et al, 2006;Barbosa et al, 2007;Fadly et al, 2008b;Lin et al, 2009). Based on virus or antibody detection assays, REV infection has been shown to be common, if not ubiquitous, in most countries (Witter & Johnson, 1985;Bagust et al, 1993;Fadly et al, 2008b).…”

Detection of reticuloendotheliosis virus by immunohistochemistry andin situhybridization in experimentally infected Japanese quail embryos and archived formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tumours

“…There are other diagnostic techniques for REV (Davidson et al, 1995;Crespo et al, 2002). PCR is the most sensitive in detecting tissues infected with REV.…”

“…Unstained sections were heated at 608C for 15 min and deparaffinized in Hemo-De (PMP Medical Industries) for 20 Isolated from a duck and provided by Dr K. A. Schat (see Li et al, 1983). b Isolated from frozen turkey tissue (see Crespo et al, 2002).…”

“…Considering that REV can induce either T-cell or Bcell transformation, histopathology and lymphocyte markers do not allow a differential diagnosis with Marek's disease or lymphoid leukosis, which cause Tcell and B-cell transformation, respectively (Crespo et al, 2002). Therefore, there are no diagnostic methods currently available for detection of active REV infection in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues (Witter & Fadly, 2003).…”