Antibody response to simian virus 40 tumor antigen in nude mice reconstituted with T cells.

Athymic BALB/c nude mice (nu/nu) fail to generate circulating antibodies to simian virus 40 (SV40) tumor (T) antigen when immunized with SV40-transformed mouse cells or with T antigen positive somatic cell hybrids derived from SV40-transformed human and normal mouse parental cells. However, normal BALB/c mice readily produce antibodies to SV40 T antigen. When nude mice were reconstituted with normal syngeneic T lymphocytes from spleen or thymus source, the humoral immune responsiveness to SV40 T antigen was restored.     

Virogenic Properties of Bromodeoxyuridine-sensitive and Bromodeoxyuridine-resistant Simian Virus 40-transformed Mouse Kidney Cells

When simian virus 40 (SV40)-transformed mouse kidney cells (mKS) were grown in the presence of susceptible indicator cells, SV40 was readily recovered from: (i) 15 transformed cell lines, (ii) transformed cells subcultured 45 times over a 7-month period in medium containing antiviral serum and bromodeoxyuridine (dBU), (iii) 45 of 46 clonal lines isolated in the presence of antiviral serum, (iv) 19 of 19 secondary clones isolated from two clonal lines, and (v) dBU-resistant transformed cell lines. dBU-resistant SV40-transformed mouse kidney cell lines were selected and shown to contain the T antigen and to have normal levels of thymidylate kinase and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymerase, but to be deficient in thymidine (dT) kinase. Radioautographic and biochemical experiments demonstrated that very little (3)H-dT was incorporated into DNA of dBU-resistant cells during a 6-hr labeling period. After infection of dT kinase-deficient mKS cells with vaccinia virus, high levels of dT kinase were induced. The properties of SV40 recovered from dBU-sensitive and dBU-resistant cells were studied. SV40 recovered from transformed cells was shown to express in CV-1 cells at least six functions characteristic of parental virus: synthesis of capsid antigen, synthesis of T antigen, synthesis of viral DNA, induction of dT kinase, induction of DNA polymerase, and induction of host cell DNA synthesis. In addition, SV40 recovered from the transformed cells induced T antigen, dT kinase, deoxycytidylate deaminase, thymidylate kinase, and DNA polymerase in abortively infected mouse kidney cultures, and the virus was also capable of transforming primary cultures of mouse kidney cells.     

The ability of large T antigen to complex with p53 is necessary for the increased life span and partial transformation of human cells by simian virus 40.

Simian virus 40 (SV40) T antigen binds to the tumor suppressor p53 protein, and this association may contribute to oncogenic transformation by the virus. We investigated the importance of this binding on transformation by examining three replication-competent mutants of SV40 (402DE, 402DN, and 402DH). These mutants express T antigens defective in binding to human and monkey p53s but retain some binding with mouse p53. All showed significant reduction in their ability to induce transformed cell foci of two normal human cell lines as well as a slight reduction with mouse embryo cells. Other comparable mutants which express T antigens retaining the ability to complex with p53 were able to induce foci at wild-type levels in both human and mouse cells. Further studies were performed with five T-antigen-positive clones isolated from the few human cell foci that appeared after transfection with 402 mutant DNAs. All five clones reached senescence at about the same point as did the parental untransformed cells. However, six other human cell clones obtained after transfection with DNA from nondefective mutants or wild-type virus were still growing well at more than 10 passages beyond their expected life span. These results suggest that the ability of T antigen to form stable complexes with p53 is necessary for SV40 to extend the life span and partially transform human cells in culture.     

Alteration in cyclic adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate binding proteins during the phenotypic change of mouse macrophages transformed by a temperature-sensitive mutant (tsA640) of SV40

By using a photoaffinity ligand, cell extracts from transformed macrophages that were established by infection with temperature-sensitive mutants (tsA640) of simian virus 40 (SV40) were examined for cyclic adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate (cAMP)-binding proteins. At the nonpermissive temperature for SV40 large T antigen, 39.0 degrees C, no significant cAMP-binding proteins could be detected, such as primary mouse macrophages. At the permissive temperature of 33.0 degrees C, cAMP-binding proteins appeared later than SV40 T antigen expression and cellular DNA synthesis. The profile of cAMP-binding proteins was similar to that of resting, but not proliferating, mouse clonal fibroblasts (BALB/c 3T3). These and previous results suggest that SV40 T antigen influences the expression of cAMP-binding proteins in tsA640-transformed macrophages; the large/small T antigen converts the profile of cAMP-binding proteins from macrophage to fibroblastic cells.     

Sensitivity of simian virus 40-transformed C57BL/6 mouse embryo fibroblasts to lysis by murine natural killer cells

The susceptibility of mouse cells expressing full-length or truncated transforming protein (T antigen) of simian virus 40 (SV40) to lysis by murine natural killer (NK) cells was assessed. For these studies, C57BL/6 mouse embryo fibroblasts (B6/MEF) were transformed by transfection with SV40 DNA encoding the entire T antigen. The transformed cell lines were tested for susceptibility to lysis by nonimmune CBA splenocytes as a source of NK cells and to lysis by C57BL/6, SV40-specific cytolytic T cells (CTL). It was found that 13 of 15 clonally derived, SV40-transformed H-2b cell lines were susceptible to lysis by NK cells. However, there was some variation in their susceptibility to lysis by NK cells. There was no correlation between susceptibility to lysis by SV40-specific CTL and to lysis by NK cells. Cells transfected with a plasmid which encodes only the N-terminal half of the SV40 T antigen were consistently less susceptible to lysis by NK cells, suggesting that expression of only the N-terminus of the T antigen was insufficient for optimal susceptibility to lysis by NK cells. Primary mouse embryo fibroblasts transformed by human adenovirus type 5 E1 region DNA were also found to be susceptible to NK cell-mediated lysis. Lysis of SV40-transformed cells by nonimmune CBA splenocytes was mediated by NK cells because: lysis was augmented when the effector cells were treated with interferon before assay; and lysis was abrogated when the effector cells were obtained from mice that had been depleted of NK activity by treatment with antiserum against the asialo GM1 surface marker. These results indicate that primary mouse cells which are transformed by SV40 and which express the native T antigen are susceptible to lysis by mouse NK cells. Conversely, cells transformed by a plasmid encoding only the N-terminal half of the T antigen express reduced susceptibility to lysis by NK cells.     

Reactivity to SV40 T antigen in athymic (nude), anti-thymocyte serum-treated, and normal mice.

Antisera prepared in syngeneic mice by hyperimmunization with intact SV40-transformed mouse cells or with somatic cell hybrids between SV40-transformed human and normal mouse cells exhibit anti-SV40 tumor (T) antigen reactivity. Athymic mice bearing tumors formed by SV40-transformed mouse, human or mouse-human hybrids were not reactive with SV40 T antigen. Anti-thymocyte serum (ATS)-treated mice also lacked T antigen reactivity during suppressive treatment but developed antibody to T antigen after discontinuing ATS treatment and tumor regression. We conclude that that presence of growing tumors in the mouse is not necessary for the production of anti-SV40 T antigen antibodies but that helper thymus-derived cells are essential for the humoral response.     

cis-active elements from mouse chromosomal DNA suppress simian virus 40 DNA replication.

Simian virus 40 (SV40)-containing DNA was rescued after the fusion of SV40-transformed VLM cells with permissive COS1 monkey cells and cloned, and prototype plasmid clones were characterized. A 2-kilobase mouse DNA fragment fused with the rescued SV40 DNA, and derived from mouse DNA flanking the single insert of SV40 DNA in VLM cells, was sequenced. Insertion of the intact rescued mouse sequence, or two nonoverlapping fragments of it, into wild-type SV40 plasmid DNA suppressed replication of the plasmid in TC7 monkey cells, although the plasmids expressed replication-competent T antigen. Rat cells were transformed with linearized wild-type SV40 plasmid DNA with or without fragments of the mouse DNA in cis. Although all of the rat cell lines expressed approximately equal amounts of T antigen and p53, transformants carrying SV40 DNA linked to either of the same two replication suppressor fragments produced significantly less free SV40 DNA after fusion with permissive cells than those transformed by SV40 DNA without a cellular insert or with a cellular insert lacking suppressor activity. The results suggest that two independent segments of cellular DNA act in cis to suppress SV40 replication in vivo, either as a plasmid or integrated in chromosomal DNA.     

Characterization of a 54K dalton cellular SV40 tumor antigen present in SV40-transformed cells and uninfected embryonal carcinoma cells.

SV40 infection or transformation of murine cells stimulated the production of a 54K dalton protein that was specifically immunoprecipitated, along with SV40 large T and small t antigens, with sera from mice or hamsters bearing SV40-induced tumors. The same SV40 anti-T sera immunoprecipitated a 54K dalton protein from two different, uninfected murine embryonal carcinoma cell lines. These 54K proteins from SV40-transformed mouse cells and the uninfected embryonal carcinomas cells had identical partial peptide maps which were completely different from the partial peptide map of SV40 large T antigen. An Ad2+ND4-transformed hamster cell line also expressed a 54K protein that was specifically immunoprecipitated by SV40 T sera. The partial peptide maps of the mouse and hamster 54K protein were different, showing the host cell species specificity of these proteins. The 54K hamster protein was also unrelated to the Ad2+ND4 SV40 T antigen. Analogous proteins immunoprecipitated by SV40 T sera, ranging in molecular weight from 44K to 60K, were detected in human and monkey SV40-infected or -transformed cells. A wide variety of sera from hamsters and mice bearing SV40-induced tumors immunoprecipitated the 54K protein of SV40-transformed cells and murine embryonal carcinoma cells. Antibody produced by somatic cell hybrids between a B cell and a myeloma cell (hybridoma) against SV40 large T antigen also immunoprecipitated the 54K protein in virus-infected and -transformed cells, but did not do so in the embryonal carcinoma cell lines. We conclude that SV40 infection or transformation of mouse cells stimulates the synthesis or enhances the stability of a 54K protein. This protein appears to be associated with SV40 T antigen in SV40-infected and -transformed cells, and is co-immunoprecipitated by hybridomas sera to SV40 large T antigen. The 54K protein either shares antigenic determinants with SV40 T antigen or is itself immunogenic when in association with SV40 large T antigen. The protein varies with host cell species, and analogous proteins were observed in hamster, monkey and human cells. The role of this protein in transformation is unclear at present.     

Development of antigens in human cells infected with Simian virus 40

Bissett, Marjorie L. (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), and Francis E. Payne. Development of antigens in human cells infected with simian virus 40. J. Bacteriol. 91:743-749. 1966.-An explanation for the apparent infrequency with which human cells transform in response to exposure to simian virus 40 (SV40) was sought by following the development of virus-induced antigens in human euploid cells, strain CR. For about 8 weeks after exposure to a high multiplicity of SV40, only a small proportion of the cells produced tumor (T) or viral (V) antigen detected by immunofluorescence. Double-tracer staining techniques revealed that the development of T and V antigen in about 1% of the CR cells resembled that in green monkey kidney cells, strain BS-C-1, in which SV40 replicates and destroys all the cells. T antigen was detected before V antigen; both antigens were detected in the nucleus, but only V antigen appeared later in the cytoplasm. All intact cells that contained V antigen also contained T antigen. Infected CR cell cultures, before and after transformation or when in "crisis," contained only 0.1 to 1.0% of cells with both V and T antigen. Some CR cells contained only T antigen, and by 8 days after exposure to virus these cells were present as loose foci associated with an occasional cell containing V antigen. The proportion of CR cells with only T antigen increased from about 1% during the first 4 weeks to 8% at 7 weeks, and to nearly 100% at 11 weeks, when essentially all of the cells were epithelioid. Foci of epithelioid cells were first recognized in the 9th week. It was concluded that those CR cells that contained T antigen at any given time represented (i) a few cells that subsequently produced V antigen and lysed, and (ii) a progressively increasing population that produced only T antigen. If the latter population, in whole or in part, gave rise to the epithelioid transformed cells, then its initial size could account, at least in part, for the apparent infrequency with which human cells transform in response to SV40.     

Analysis of nonpermissivity in mouse cells overexpressing simian virus 40 T antigen.

To analyze the nature of the nonpermissivity of mouse cells for simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA replication, we isolated mouse cells producing SV40 T antigen (Tag) at levels equal to or greater than that found in COS1 cells. These mouse cells were nonpermissive for the replication of exogenously added SV40 DNA, although purified Tag isolated from these cells was able to support SV40 DNA replication in vitro. Furthermore, when mouse cells expressing Tag were fused to monkey cells, SV40 DNA replication was observed. These results indicate that the mere production of large quantities of wild-type SV40 Tag does not overcome the block of nonpermissivity in mouse cells and that cellular factors must play a critical role.     

Isolation of Defective Lysogens from Simian Virus 40-transformed Mouse Kidney Cultures

Rescue of simian virus 40 (SV40) from hamster and murine cell lines transformed by nonirradiated or by ultraviolet (UV)-irradiated SV40 (10(-3) to 10(-5) survival) was studied. A combination of tests was employed to detect induction of SV40 synthesis: (i) co-cultivation with susceptible monkey kidney (CV-1) cells; (ii) treating mixtures of transformed and CV-1 cells with UV-irradiated Sendai virus (UV-Sendai) prior to co-cultivation; and (iii) plating untreated or UV-Sendai-treated mixtures of transformed and CV-1 cells with freshly trypsinized CV-1 cells. The first and second tests provided a measure of the total infectious SV40 yield per culture, and the third test provided a measure of the frequency of induction (fraction of transformed cells giving rise to infectious centers). With the combination of tests, SV40 was rescued in all trials from TSV-5 hamster cells, mKS-BU100 mouse cells, and from several lines of mouse kidney cells transformed by UV-irradiated SV40 (mKS-U lines). The frequency of induction was about 7 x 10(-2) for TSV-5 cells, about 3 x 10(-3) for mKS-BU100 cells, greater than 10(-4) for the mKS-U lines which were "good" yielders, and about 10(-5) to 10(-4) for the mKS-U lines which were "average" yielders. SV40 of a plaque type different from parental virus was rescued from four of the mKS-U cell lines. Virus was also easily rescued from: (i) tumor cells produced from the mKS-A line of transformed mouse kidney cells; (ii) mouse kidney cells transformed by SV40 which had been rescued from mKS-BU100 cells; and (iii) tumor cells (HATS) which had been produced by inoculating newborn hamsters with SV40 rescued from mKS-BU100 cells. The frequency of induction of HATS cells was of the same order of magnitude as the frequency of induction of TSV-5 cells. In a study of the kinetics of virus induction, it was shown that SV40 could be detected 28, 40, and 48.5 hr after UV-Sendai treatment of mixtures of CV-1 and TSV-5, HATS, or mKS-BU100 cells, respectively. Although all of the mKS-U lines contained the SV40-specific tumor antigen, some were poor virus yielders (SV40 was recovered in less than 50% of the trials) and five lines were rare virus yielders (SV40 recovered only once in four or more trials). Forty-eight mKS-U lines were nonyielders; SV40 was never recovered by any test used thus far. UV-Sendai-treated mixtures of pairs of nonyielder mKS-U lines with CV-1 cells also did not yield infectious virus. Various factors affecting rescue have been discussed. The mKS-U lines which were poor virus yielders, rare yielders, or which never yielded virus have been classified tentatively as "defective lysogens" which contain mutational lesions at loci essential for detachment of SV40 from integration sites or for SV40 replication, or for both.     

Demonstration of T antigens on the surface of cells transformed with primate polyoma viruses

Primate polyoma virus-transformed hamster, mouse, and rat cell lines were examined by indirect immunofluorescence staining for cell surface-associated T antigens, by using a rabbit antiserum prepared against sodium dodecyl sulfate-denatured large T antigen of simian virus 40 (anti-SV40-SDS-T serum). Positive surface staining was shown not only on SV40-transformed cells, but also on BK and JC virus-transformed cells. In contrast, normal cells and cells transformed with mouse polyoma-, human adeno-, and murine sarcoma viruses were negative. The data on SV40-transformed cells confirmed the reports of others demonstrating the cell surface location of SV40 large T antigen, and the data on BK and JC virus-transformed cells proved that these cells have cell-surface T antigens that cross-react with anti-SV40-SDS-T serum.     

Properties of Simian Virus 40 Rescued from Cell Lines Transformed by Ultraviolet-Irradiated Simian Virus 40

Simian virus 40 (SV40) strains have been rescued from various clonal lines of mouse kidney cells that had been transformed by ultraviolet (UV)-irradiated SV40. To learn whether some of the rescued SV40 strains were mutants, monkey kidney (CV-1) cells were infected with the rescued virus strains at 37 C and at 41 C. The SV40 strains studied included strains rescued from transformed cell lines classified as "good," "average," "poor," and "rare" yielders on the basis of total virus yield, frequency of induction, and incidence of successful rescue trials. Four small plaque mutants isolated from "poor" yielder lines and fuzzy and small plaque strains isolated from an "average" and a "good" yielder line, respectively, were among the SV40 strains tested. Virus strains rescued from all classes of transformed cells were capable of inducing the transplantation antigen, and they induced the intranuclear SV40-T-antigen, thymidine kinase, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymerase, and cellular DNA synthesis at 37 C and at 41 C. With the exception of four small plaque strains rescued from "poor" yielders, the rescued SV40 strains replicated their DNA and formed infectious virus with kinetics similar to parental SV40 at either 37 or 41 C. The four exceptional strains did replicate at 37 C, but replication was very poor at 41 C. Thus, only a few of the rescued virus strains exhibited defective SV40 functions in CV-1 cells. All of the virus strains rescued from the "rare" yielder lines were similar to parental SV40. Several hypotheses consistent with the properties of the rescued virus strains are discussed, which may account for the significant variations in virus yield and frequency of induction of the transformed cell lines.     

Analysis of a transgenic mouse containing simian virus 40 and v-myc sequences.

Two plasmids, one containing the simian virus 40 (SV40) genome and the mouse metallothionein I gene and one containing the v-myc gene of avian myelocytomatosis virus MC29, were coinjected into mouse embryos. Of the 13 surviving mice, one, designated M13, contained both myc and SV40 sequences. This mouse developed a cranial bulge identified as a choroid plexus papilloma at 13 weeks and was subsequently sacrificed; tissue samples were taken for further analysis. Primary cell lines derived from these tissues contained both myc and SV40 DNA. No v-myc mRNA could be detected, although SV40 mRNA was present in all of the cell lines tested. T antigen also was expressed in all of the cell lines analyzed. These data suggest that SV40 expression was involved in the abnormalities of mouse M13 and was responsible for the transformed phenotype of the primary cell lines. Primary cell lines from this mouse were atypical in that the population rapidly became progressively more transformed with time in culture based on the following criteria: morphology, growth rate, and the ability to grow in soft agar and in serum-free medium. The data also suggest that factors present in the mouse regulated the ability of SV40 to oncogenically transform most cells and that in vitro culture of cells allowed them to escape those factors.     

Extension of lifespan of human T lymphocytes by transfection with SV40 large T antigen.

Lymphocytes have a finite and predictable proliferative life span in culture similar to that observed in fibroblasts. In general, the senescence of human fibroblasts is inevitable and irreversible, but their proliferative life span can be extended by certain DNA tumor virus oncogenes, such as the large T antigen of the SV40 virus. Here, we show that human T lymphocytes (HTL) can be stably transfected with SV40 large T and that expression of T antigen extended the life span of T cell cultures. PHA-stimulated HTL were transfected with pSV3neo, an expression vector containing the SV40 early region and the neomycin resistance gene. Transfectants were selected for neomycin (G418) resistance. Control HTL, either mock transfected or transfected with pSV2neo (containing the neomycin resistance gene only), ceased proliferation after about 17 population doublings. In contrast, HTL transfected with pSV3neo underwent more than 170 doublings. pSV3neo-transfected cells expressed SV40 large T RNA, detectable by in situ hybridization, and SV40 T antigen, detectable by immunofluorescence. Greater than 95% of the transfected cells were CD4 positive. These results clearly show that SV40 large T enables HTL to escape senescence. Transfection with SV40 large T may be a valuable method for obtaining long term human T cell lines for studies of both aging and immunology.     

Nonidentity of Some Simian Virus 40-induced Enzymes with Tumor Antigen

The complement-fixing tumor (T) antigen induced by simian virus 40 (SV40) has been prepared from SV40-infected cell cultures, from infected cell cultures treated at the time of infection with 1-beta-d-arabinofuranosylcytosine (ara-C), and from SV40-transformed cells. Upon partial purification, the T antigen exhibited the following properties: it was tightly adsorbed by calcium phosphate gel, it was precipitated by acetic acid at pH 5 or by ammonium sulfate at about 20 to 32% saturation, and it had a molecular weight greater than 250,000, as estimated by Sephadex G-200 gel chromatography. In contrast, deoxycytidylate (dCMP) deaminase, thymidylate (dTMP) kinase, and thymidine (dT) kinase were less strongly bound to calcium phosphate and were not precipitated at pH 5; these enzymes also had much lower molecular weights than the T antigen, as did dihydrofolic (FH(2)) reductase. Furthermore, higher ammonium sulfate concentrations were required to precipitate dCMP deaminase, dTMP kinase, and FH(2) reductase activities than to precipitate the T antigen. Another difference was that the T antigen was not stabilized, but dCMP deaminase, dTMP kinase, and dT kinase, were stabilized, respectively, by dCTP, dTMP, and dT or dTTP. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymerase activity resembled the T antigen in adsorption to calcium phosphate, in precipitation by ammonium sulfate or at pH 5, and in the rate of inactivation when incubated at 38 C. However, the polymerase activity could be partly separated from the T antigen by Sephadex G-200 gel chromatography. The cell fraction containing partially purified T antigen also contained a soluble complement-fixing antigen (presumably a subunit of the viral capsid) which reacted with hyperimmune monkey sera. The latter antigen was present in very low titers or absent from cell extracts prepared from SV40-infected monkey kidney cell cultures which had been treated with ara-C at the time of infection, or from SV40-transformed mouse kidney (mKS) or hamster tumor (H-50) cells. The T antigen, however, was present in usual amounts in SV40-transformed cells or ara-C treated, infected cells.     

A deletion in the simian virus 40 large T antigen impairs lytic replication in monkey cells in vivo but enhances DNA replication in vitro: new complementation function of T antigen.

We describe a new complementation function within the simian virus 40 (SV40) A gene. This function is required for viral DNA replication and virus production in vivo but, surprisingly, does not affect any of the intrinsic enzymatic functions of T antigen directly required for in vitro DNA replication. Other well-characterized SV40 T-antigen mutants, whether expressed stably from integrated genomes or in cotransfection experiments, complement these mutants for in vivo DNA replication and plaque formation. These new SV40 mutants were isolated and cloned from human cells which stably carry the viral DNA. The alteration in the large-T-antigen gene was shown by marker rescue and nucleotide sequence analysis to be a deletion of 322 bp spanning the splice-donor site of the first exon, creating a 14-amino-acid deletion in the large T antigen. The mutant gene was expressed in H293 human cells from an adenovirus vector, and the protein was purified by immunoaffinity chromatography. The mutant protein directs greater levels of DNA replication in vitro than does the wild-type protein. Moreover, the mutant protein reduces the lag time for in vitro DNA synthesis and can be diluted to lower levels than wild-type T antigen and still promote good replication, which is in clear contrast to the in vivo situation. These biochemical features of the protein are independent of the source of the cellular replication factors (i.e., HeLa, H293, COS 7, or CV1 cells) and the cells from which the T antigens were purified. The mutant T antigen does not transform Rat-2 cells. Several different models which might reconcile the differences observed in vivo and in vitro are outlined. We propose that the function of T antigen affected prepares cells for SV40 replication by activation of a limiting cellular replication factor. Furthermore, a link between the induction of a cellular replication factor and transformation by SV40 is discussed.     

Immunologic selection of simian virus 40 (SV40) T-antigen-negative tumor cells which arise by excision of early SV40 DNA.

A clonal line of highly oncogenic spontaneously transformed mouse cells (104C) was transformed in tissue culture by simian virus 40 (SV40) and subsequently recloned (106CSC). This 106CSC cell line expressed T antigen and transplantation antigen but was about 100 times less tumorigenic than the 104C parent. When 10(5) 106CSC cells were injected into immunocompetent syngeneic mice, tumors were produced. From such tumors, cell lines were established in culture, all of which were consistently negative for T antigen. We found previously by solution DNA hybridization methods that the tumor cells were depleted in the early region of SV40 DNA which codes for the T antigen. We postulated that this loss occurs through a DNA rearrangement of unknown mechanism in one or a few 106CSC cells and that the tumors are then produced from such a cell or cells, whereas all the T-antigen-positive 106CSC cells are rejected by immunologic means. In this investigation we showed by the DNA transfer method using appropriately selected SV40 DNA probes that indeed the tumor cell clone (130CSCT) we selected to investigate came from one 106CSC cell in which the T-antigen-coding SV40 DNA sequences (but not all the early SV40 DNA sequences) were lost by an excision and recombination mechanism. We also showed that the 130CSCT cells, which are highly tumorigenic, could again be transformed by SV40 and that the resulting T-antigen-positive cloned derivative cells became much less tumorigenic (approximately 10(5)-fold), apparently again because of immunologic recognition and rejection. Indeed, when 10(7) T-antigen-positive cloned cells were injected, all the T-antigen-positive cells were rejected and the tumor was produced again from one or more T-antigen-negative cells. Thus, a one-step in vivo transplantation experiment allowed a selection (for tumorigenicity and against the SV40 T antigen) of a mutant mammalian cell with a DNA deletion at a definable site.     

Resistance of teratocarcinoma stem cells to infection with simian virus 40: early events.

Multipotential stem cells of a murine teratocarcinoma are resistant to typical infection with either polyoma virus (PV) or Simian virus 40 (SV40). Differentiated progeny of the stem cells are susceptible to infection in a manner identical to other mouse somatic cells, i.e., they are permissive for PV and nonpermissive for SV40. The early interactions between the stem cells (embryonal carcinoma or EC cells) and SV40 and PV were studied. Virions adsorbed to and penetrated into the cytoplasm and nucleus of EC cells, but did not induce expression of T antigen in the EC nuclei. Purified SV40 DNA was capable of inducing T antigen in differentiated teratocarcinoma cells but not in EC cells. Virus could not be rescued from EC cells previously exposed to SV40. The resistance of the stem cells to infection apparently involves a block in the infectious cycle after adsorption and penetration but before T antigen induction.