Surface IgM mediated regulation of RAG gene expression in E mu-N-myc B cell lines.

Transgenic mice carrying either the c-myc or N-myc oncogene deregulated by the immunoglobulin heavy chain enhancer element (E mu) develop both pre-B and B cell lymphomas (E mu-c-myc and E mu-N-myc lymphomas). We report here that B cell lines derived from these tumors, as well as a line derived from v-myc retroviral transformation, simultaneously express surface immunoglobulin (a hallmark of mature B cells) as well as a common subset of genes normally restricted to the pre-B stage of development-including the recombinase activating genes RAG-1 and RAG-2. Continued RAG-1 and RAG-2 expression in these lines is associated with VDJ recombinase activity detected with a VDJ recombination substrate. Cross-linking of the surface immunoglobulin on these lines with an anti-mu antibody leads to rapid, specific and reversible down-regulation of RAG-1 and RAG-2 gene expression. We also find that a small but significant percentage of normal surface immunoglobulin bearing bone marrow B cells express the RAG-1 gene. These findings are discussed in the context of their possible implications for the control of specific gene expression during the pre-B to B cell transition.     

An E mu-v-abl transgene elicits plasmacytomas in concert with an activated myc gene.

To clarify how the v-abl oncogene of Abelson murine leukemia virus contributes to lymphoid tumorigenesis, we introduced the gene linked to an immunoglobulin heavy chain enhancer (E mu) into the mouse germline. Although lymphoid development was not detectably affected in young E mu-v-abl mice, three transgenic lines shared a high predisposition to develop clonal plasmacytomas that secreted IgA or IgG. The unexpected absence of pre-B lymphomas suggests that Abelson virus generates such tumors by infecting an early lymphoid progenitor cell that has not yet activated the heavy chain enhancer. Most plasmacytomas bore a rearranged c-myc gene, apparently as a result of spontaneous translocation to the Igh locus. Moreover, progeny of a cross with analogous E mu-myc mice rapidly developed oligoclonal plasmacytomas. Thus, the collusion of v-abl with c-myc is stage specific, efficiently transforming plasma cells but not pre-B cells or B cells.     

Molecular analysis of myc gene mutants

We describe the generation and characterization of a series of deletion mutants of the avian acute leukaemia virus MC29 which allow the study of the function of the myc in transformation of quail embryo fibroblasts in vitro and tumour induction in vivo. These mutants, which are deleted in the 3' portion of the myc gene, fail to transform macrophages in vitro or induce tumours in vivo but are still able to transform morphologically fibroblasts. From one of these mutants a 'recovered' MC29 virus was generated which, like wild type MC29, transformed fibroblasts and macrophages in vitro. When tested in vivo this virus induced lymphomas of T and B cells rather that the endotheliomas induced by wild type MC29. This system allows us to investigate another question which is the mechanism by which the virus (or oncogene it contains) preferentially transforms one cell type.     

Antisense RNA based down-regulation of RNaseE in E.coli

Background  

Messenger RNA decay is an important mechanism for controlling gene expression in all organisms. The rate of the mRNA degradation directly affects the steady state concentration of mRNAs and therefore influences the protein synthesis. RNaseE has a key importance for the general mRNA decay in E.coli. While RNaseE initiates the degradation of most mRNAs in E.coli, it is likely that the enzyme is also responsible for the degradation of recombinant RNAs. As RNaseE is essential for cell viability and knockout mutants cannot be cultured, we investigated the possibility for a down-regulation of the intracellular level of RNaseE by antisense RNAs. During this study, an antisense RNA based approach could be established which revealed a strong reduction of the intracellular level of RNaseE in E.coli.     

Novel zinc finger gene implicated as myc collaborator by retrovirally accelerated lymphomagenesis in E mu-myc transgenic mice

To search for genes that can collaborate with myc in lymphomagenesis, we exploited retroviral insertional mutagenesis in E mu-myc transgenic mice. Moloney murine leukemia virus accelerated development of B lymphoid tumors. Three quarters contained a provirus within the known pim-1 or pim-2 loci, new loci bmi-1 and emi-1, or combinations of these. bmi-1 insertions predominated, occurring in half the tumors, and resulted in elevated bmi-1 mRNA levels. Significantly, the bmi-1 gene, which is expressed in diverse normal cells, encodes a Cys/His metal-binding motif (C3HC4) that resembles those in several DNA-binding proteins and defines a new category of zinc finger gene. Thus, myc-induced lymphomagenesis can entail the concerted action of several genes, including the presumptive nuclear regulator bmi-1.     

Expression of class I histocompatibility antigens in neuroectodermal tumors is independent of the expression of a transfected neuroblastoma myc gene

We have evaluated the relationship between the neuronal myc gene (NMYC) and class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expression in human neuroblastoma (NB) tumor cell lines. Class I MHC surface Ag expression in NB cell lines varied from nearly undetectable to levels nearly as high as in a lymphoblastoid cell line. Class I MHC mRNA levels in NMYC-amplified NB cell lines were lower than levels observed in single copy NMYC NB cell lines. However, considerable variation in class I MHC surface Ag and mRNA expression was evident in NMYC-amplified cell lines. To determine directly whether NMYC might modulate class I MHC expression in NB, we transfected a plasmid containing a recombinant NMYC gene into two tumor cell lines derived from a NB and a related neuroepithelioma tumor. Constitutive overexpression of the recombinant NMYC gene produced no consistent change in class I MHC surface Ag or mRNA levels. To determine whether class I MHC expression might be developmentally regulated in adrenal medullary cells, the precursor cells of adrenal NB tumors, beta 2-microglobulin expression was measured in fetal and adult adrenal glands. beta 2-Microglobulin expression was not evident in the neuroblasts of a 24-wk-old fetal adrenal gland, whereas beta 2-microglobulin expression was present in the adult adrenal medulla. These data suggest that variation in class I MHC expression among NB cells may reflect the developmental stage at which neuroblasts were arrested during tumorigenesis.     

MoMuLV proviral integrations identified by Sup-F selection in tumors from infected myc/pim bitransgenic mice correlate with activation of the gfi-1 gene.

Infecting mice with a mutant Moloney murine leukemia virus which contains the bacterial suppressor tRNA supF in its LTR allows rapid cloning of proviral integration sites from genomic tumour DNA. In a previous study Emu pim-1/Emu L-myc bitransgenic mice had been inoculated neonatally with MoMuLV supF virus. The retroviral infection led to acceleration of lymphomagenesis indicating the proviral activation of further oncogenes cooperating with myc and pim-1 in tumour development. Using a functional supF screen for analysis of genomic mouse tumour DNA libraries which had been constructed in the phage vector EMBL3A, a common proviral integration site on mouse chromosome 5 was cloned and found to be identical to the proviral integration site evi-5 which has recently been identified in an AKXD T-cell lymphoma and which is located 18 kb upstream of the gfi-1 gene. Tumours bearing evi-5 integrations showed an enhanced gfi-1 expression level suggesting that gfi-1 is the target gene for insertions at the evi-5 locus. Together with three other previously described Moloney integration clusters all responsible for enhanced gfi-1 expression the number of tumours from infected double transgenic Emu L-myc/Emu pim-1 transgenic mice with retrovirally activated gfi-1 added up to 53% underscoring the role of GFI-1 as an effective collaborator for MYC and PIM-1 in the process of lymphomagenesis.     

Evolution of CpG islands within the myc gene family

CpG islands are discrete regions of DNA with significantly greater frequencies of CpG doublets than bulk genomic DNA. They are most frequently associated with the 5'-ends of housekeeping genes and are involved in the regulation of their expression. In this study, the structure and evolution of CpG islands within genes of the myc family were evaluated with the protein-coding sequences of animals and their transducing viruses. These evaluations relied on a gene tree for the entire myc family to test the origins of CpG islands within their two protein-coding exons. Overall, CG-very rich and CG-rich islands are associated with exon 2 of the different myc genes of warm-blooded vertebrates and with exon 3 of the N-myc and s-myc sequences of mammals, but not birds. These overall distributions of well-developed islands can be related to the major transitions of the CG-rich genomes of warm-blooded vertebrates from the CG-poor ones of other animals. In turn, the greater variability of well-developed islands within exon 3 of the N-myc gene and among the different retrogenes of the myc family can be attributed to their reduced functional constraints, as evidenced by their limited and very restricted patterns of expression, respectively.     

Nucleotide sequence of a transduced myc gene from a defective feline leukemia provirus.

The nucleotide sequence of a feline v-myc gene and feline leukemia virus (FeLV) flanking regions was determined. Both the nucleotide and predicted amino acid sequences are very similar to the murine and human c-myc genes (ca. 90% identity). The entire c-myc coding sequence is represented in feline v-myc and replaces portions of the gag and env genes and the entire pol gene. The coding sequence is in phase with the gag gene reading frame; v-myc, therefore, appears to be expressed as a gag-myc fusion protein. Viral sequences at the 3' myc-FeLV junction begin with the hexanucleotide CTCCTC, which is also found at the 3' fes-FeLV junction of both Gardner-Arnstein and Snyder-Theilen feline sarcoma viruses. These similarities suggest that some sequence specificity may exist for the transduction of cellular genes by FeLV. Feline v-myc lacks a potential phosphorylation site at amino acid 343 in the putative DNA-binding domain, whereas both human and murine c-myc have such sites. Avian v-myc has lost a potential phosphorylation site which is present in avian c-myc five amino acids from the potential mammalian site. If these sites are actually phosphorylated in normal c-myc proteins, their loss may alter the DNA-binding affinity of v-myc proteins.     

Isolation and characterization of the human cellular myc gene product

Antibodies against the product of the human cellular myc gene (c-myc) were prepared against a bacterially expressed human c-myc protein by inserting the ClaI/BclI fragment of the human c-myc DNA clone in an expression vector derived from pPLc24. These antibodies cross-react with viral-coded myc (v-myc) proteins from MC29 and OK10 viruses. Furthermore, IgGs specific for synthetic peptides, corresponding to the 12 carboxy-terminal amino acids of the human c-myc gene and 16 internal amino acids, were isolated. By use of the various myc-specific antisera or IgGs, a protein of Mr 64 000 was detected in several human tumor cell lines including Colo320, small cell cancer of the lung (417d), HL60, Raji, and HeLa. This protein is larger than the corresponding v-myc or chicken c-myc proteins from avian virus transformed cells or avian bursa lymphoma cells (RP9), both of which are proteins of Mr 55 000. The human c-myc protein is located in the nucleus of Colo320 cells, exhibits a half-life of about 15 min, and is expressed at significantly lower levels than the viral protein. The human c-myc protein was enriched about 3000-fold from Colo320 cells using c-myc-specific IgG coupled to Sepharose beads. The protein binds to double-stranded DNA in vitro, a reaction that can be inhibited to more than 90% by c-myc specific IgG.     

Structure and expression of B-myc, a new member of the myc gene family.

The myc family of genes contains five functional members. We describe the cloning of a new member of the myc family from rat genomic and cDNA libraries, designated B-myc. A fragment of cloned B-myc was used to map the corresponding rat locus by Southern blotting of DNA prepared from rat X mouse somatic cell hybrids. B-myc mapped to rat chromosome 3. We have previously mapped the c-myc to rat chromosome 7 (J. Sümegi, J. Spira, H. Bazin, J. Szpirer, G. Levan, and G. Klein, Nature [London] 306:497-498, 1983) and N-myc and L-myc to rat chromosomes 6 and 5, respectively (S. Ingvarsson, C. Asker, Z. Wirschubsky, J. Szpirer, G. Levan, G. Klein, and J. Sümegi, Somat. Cell Mol. Genet. 13:335-339, 1987). A partial sequence of B-myc had extensive sequence homology to the c-myc protein-coding region, and the detection of intron homology further indicated that these two genes are closely related. The DNA regions conserved among the myc family members, designated myc boxes, were highly conserved between c-myc and B-myc. A lower degree of homology was detected in other parts of the coding region in c-myc and B-myc not present in N-myc and L-myc. A 1.3-kilobase B-myc-specific mRNA was detected in most rat tissues, with the highest expression in the brain. This resembled the expression pattern of c-myc, although at different relative levels, and was in contrast to the more tissue-specific expression of N-myc and L-myc. B-myc was expressed at uniformly high levels in all fetal tissues and during subsequent postnatal development, in contrast to the stage-specific expression of c-myc.     

Cyclin D1 transgene impedes lymphocyte maturation and collaborates in lymphomagenesis with the myc gene.

Cyclin D1 is the regulatory subunit of certain protein kinases thought to advance the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Deregulated cyclin D1 expression has been implicated in several human neoplasms, most consistently in centrocytic B lymphoma, where the cyclin D1 gene usually has been translocated to an immunoglobulin locus. To determine directly whether constitutive cyclin D1 expression is lymphomagenic, transgenic mice were generated having the cyclin D1 gene linked to an immunoglobulin enhancer. Despite abundant transgene expression, their lymphocytes were normal in cell cycle activity, size and mitogen responsiveness, but young transgenic animals contained fewer mature B- and T-cells. Although spontaneous tumours were infrequent, lymphomagenesis was much more rapid in mice that co-expressed the cyclin D1 transgene and a myc transgene than in mice expressing either transgene alone. Moreover, the spontaneous lymphomas of myc transgenic animals often ectopically expressed the endogenous cyclin D1 gene. These findings indicate that this G1 cyclin can modulate differentiation and collaborate with myc-like genes in oncogenesis.     

Inducers of leukemic cell differentiation cause down-regulation of RB gene expression.

Expression of the retinoblastoma (RB) tumor suppressor gene during cell differentiation induced by dimethyl sulfoxide or sodium butyrate was studied in HL-60 human promyelocytic leukemia cells. As cells progressed through the cell cycle, the amount of RB protein per cell increased with homeostasis maintained, so that the amount of RB protein relative to the total cell mass remained almost constant. Dimethyl sulfoxide was used to induce these promyelocytic leukemia cells to undergo terminal differentiation into mature myeloid cells. There was an early reduction in the RB protein expressed per cell. The reduction in expression was similar for cells in all cell cycle phases. There was also progressively reduced expression at later times as cells terminally differentiated. This was compared to the case in which sodium butyrate was used to induce the differentiation of HL-60 cells into mature monocytic cells. An early reduction in RB protein expression per cell also occurred. It occurred for cells in all cell cycle phases as well. Thus, the induced differentiation of HL-60 cells along either the myeloid or the monocytic differentiation lineage involves an early reduction in RB expression, which is common to both pathways. The reduction anteceded proliferative arrest or differentiation. In both cases, the final, resulting G0-differentiated cells had less RB protein per cell than the proliferating, immature, leukemic precursor cells.