RNA in human leukemic cells related to the RNA of a mouse leukemia virus (leukocytes-RNA-DNA hybridization-rauscher virus-polysomal RNA).
Molecular hybridization with radioactively labeled DNA complementary to the RNA of the Rauscher leukemia virus was used to probe for homologous RNA in the polysome fraction of human leukemic cells. The leukocytes of 24 out of 27 patients examined contained RNA possessing homology to that of the mouse leukemia agent, but not to that of the unrelated viruses causing mammary tumors in mice or myeloblastosis in chickens. Further, no control human leukocytes or other adult and fetal tissues showed significant levels of the leukemia-specific RNA. It would appear that human leukemic cells contain RNA sequences homologous to those found in a viral agent known to cause leukemia in an experimental animal. The fact that human sarcomas have also been shown to contain this type of RNA points to a remarkable parallelism in the leukemias and sarcomas of mice and men.