B cell lymphoma in HIV transgenic mice.

Background Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type I (HIV-1) infection is associated with a high incidence of B-cell lymphomas. The role of HIV in these lymphomas is unclear and currently there are no valid in vivo models for better understanding HIV-related lymphomagenesis. Transgenic (Tg) 26 mice have a 7.4-kb pNL4-3 HIV-1 provirus lacking a 3.1-kb sequence encompassing parts of the gag-pol region. Approximately 15% of these HIV Tg mice spontaneously develop lymphoma with hallmark pre-diagnostic markers including skin lesions, diffuse lymphadenopathy and an increase in pro-inflammatory serum cytokines. Here we describe the phenotypic and molecular characteristics of the B cell leukemia/lymphoma in the Tg mice.