Diagnosis and Early Prediction of Lymphoma Using High-Throughput Clonality Analysis of Bovine Leukemia Virus-Infected Cells

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV), a retrovirus, infects B cells of ruminants and is integrated into the host genome as a provirus for lifelong infection. After a long latent period, 1% to 5% of BLV-infected cattle develop aggressive lymphoma, enzootic bovine leukosis (EBL). Since the clonal expansion of BLV-infected cells is essential for the development of EBL, the clonality of proviral integration sites could be a molecular marker for diagnosis and early prediction of EBL. Recently, we developed Rapid Amplification of the Integration Site without Interference by Genomic DNA Contamination (RAISING) and an analysis software of clonality value (CLOVA) to analyze the clonality of transgene-integrated cells. RAISING-CLOVA is capable of assessing the risk of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma development in human T-cell leukemia virus-I-infected individuals through the clonality analysis of proviral integration sites. Thus, we herein examined the performance of RAISING-CLOVA for the clonality analysis of BLV-infected cells and conducted a comprehensive clonality analysis by RAISING-CLOVA in EBL and non-EBL cattle. RAISING-CLOVA targeting BLV was a highly accurate and reproducible method for measuring the clonality value. The comprehensive clonality analysis successfully distinguished EBL from non-EBL specimens with high sensitivity and specificity. A longitudinal clonality analysis in BLV-infected sheep, an experimental model of lymphoma, also confirmed the effectiveness of RAISING-CLOVA for early detection of EBL development. Therefore, our study emphasizes the usefulness of RAISING-CLOVA as a routine clinical test for monitoring virus-related cancers. IMPORTANCE 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.