Diagnosis and Early Prediction of Lymphoma Using High-Throughput Clonality Analysis of Bovine Leukemia Virus-Infected Cells
Tomohiro Okagawa, Honami Shimakura, Satoru Konnai, Masumichi Saito, Takahiro Matsudaira, Naganori Nao, Shinji Yamada, Kenji Murakami, Naoya Maekawa, Shiro Murata, Kazuhiko Ohashi
Abstract
Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) infection causes aggressive B-cell lymphoma in cattle and sheep. The virus has spread to farms around the world, causing significant economic damage to the livestock industry. Thus, the identification of high-risk asymptomatic cattle before they develop lymphoma can be effective in reducing the economic damage. Clonal expansion of BLV-infected cells is a promising marker for the development of lymphoma. Recently, we have developed a high-throughput method to amplify random integration sites of transgenes in host genomes and analyze their clonality, named as RAISING-CLOVA. As a new application of our technology, in this study, we demonstrate the value of the RAISING-CLOVA method for the diagnosis and early prediction of lymphoma development by BLV infection in cattle. RAISING-CLOVA is a reliable technology for monitoring the clonality of BLV-infected cells and would contribute to reduce the economic losses by EBL development.