GENETIC CONTROL OF ANTINUCLEAR ANTIBODIES IN MICE INOCULATED WITH THE MOLONEY LEUKAEMIA VIRUS

Abstract

The production of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) was studied after inoculation with Moloney leukemia virus (M-MuLV) in different H-2 congenic strains of mice. Using a new, sensitive method for ANA detection, it was demonstrated that M-MuLV-induced ANA were genetically controlled by several different factors. A high viral production was required for ANA triggering. Among viremic animals both high and low ANA producers were observed. H-2 and non-H-2-linked genes were involved in the control of M-MuLV-induced ANA; these genes were different from those involved in the control of viremia. The H-2b haplotype was associated with an increased ANA response, the transmission of the responder phenotype being intermediate. Non-H-2-linked genes must also control M-MuLV-induced ANA, as demonstrated in mice having the same H-2 haplotypes, since with equivalent viremias, they produced different amounts of ANA. No linkage with X chromosome was found.