Study for interrelationship between human herpes simplex virus type 2 and leukemia

Two different strains of human herpes simplex virus type 2 (HHSV-2) and /or murine leukemia virus (MLV) were inoculated into newborn mice. In mice of mixed infection with MLV plus HHSV-2(333) or MLV plus HHSV-2(Wu)incidences of leukemia were respectively 79.16% and 75.00%,and in those inoculated with MLV alone were 41.02% and 44.74% in the experiment for 3 months. The differences of incidences between the two conditions were highly significant (p<0.01). On the contrary, no leukemia was detected in mice that were inoculated with HHSV-2 (333) or HHSV-2 (Wu) alone and in controls. Leukemia developing time of mice infected with two viruses was earlier than with MLV alone. It is obvious that the induction of murine leukemia resulted from infection of MLV and was independent of HHSV-2 (333) and HHSV-2(Wu). Both risen incidences and shortened latencies of murine leukemia were in close relationship with infection of HHSV-2(333) and HHSV-2(Wu). Foundation item: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 59678017) Biography: Liu Jian-jun (1954-), male, associate research fellow, research direction: experimental oncology.