Altered Stem Cell ( CFU - S ) Function Following Infection of Hematopoietic Cells With a Virus

Long-term murine bone marrow cultures were used to support the growth and development of hematopoietic cells. After hematopoiesis was established. the cultures were infected with a recombinant murine amphotropic virus carrying the avian sarcoma virus src gene and the CFU-S kinetics were examined. The CFU-S from the srcinfected cultures displayed a reduced seeding efficiency in the standard spleen colony assay. The self-renewal capacity of these CFU-S was tested by their ability to reestablish hematopoiesis when serially transplanted on irradiated bone marrow cultures and by serial passage in spleens of irradiated mice. In both tests. cells from the src-infected