Potassium fluxes and ouabain binding in growing,density-inhibited and rous sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo cells

Potassium fluxes, ouabain binding, and Na⁺ and K⁺ intracellular concentrations were determined for cultures of growing normal, density-inhibited and Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts. No significant differences in K⁺ influx or ouabain binding were detected between growing normal cells and Rous sarcoma virus-transformed cells; however, ouabain binding and ouabain-sensitive K⁺ influx were 1.5- to 1.8-fold lower in density-inhibited cells. Thus, potassium influx in this system can be classified as a growth-related, but not transformation-specific change. As determined by both flame photometry and radioisotopic (⁴²K) equilibration, growing normal and density-inhibited cells had similar potassium contents, whereas transformed cells exhibited 1.4-fold higher potassium levels. Sodium ion levels, as measured by flame photometry, were also 2- to 4.5-fold higher in transformed than normal or density-inhibited cells. Complementary studies of potassium efflux showed a 1.3- to 1.5-fold higher rate (based on the percentage of pool exiting the cell) in growing normal versus density-inhibited or transformed fibroblasts. Because of the larger potassium pool in transformed cells, efflux based on absolute number of potassium ions is similar in normal and transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts.     

Association of pp60src and src protein kinase activity with the plasma membrane of nonpermissive and permissive avian sarcoma virus-infected cells.

The intracellular localization of pp60src and src protein kinase activity in avian sarcoma virus (ASV)-infected chicken embryo fibroblasts and transformed and morphologically reverted field vole cells was examined by subcellular fractionation procedures. Fractionation by differential centrifugation of Dounce-homogenized cellular extracts prepared from vole cells showed that 83 to 91% of pp60src sedimented with particulate subcellular components from both transformed and revertant vole cells. A slightly lesser amount (60 to 70%) of pp60src was found associated with the particulate fraction from ASV-infected chicken embryo fibroblasts. The distribution of src protein kinase activity in the cytosol and particulate cell fractions was identical to that of pp60src, indicating no detectable differences in the activity of cytosol- and particulate-associated pp60src. When subcellular components of the cell were fractionated by discontinuous sucrose gradient centrifugation, similar amounts of both pp60src and src protein kinase activity cosedimented with the plasma membrane fractions from both transformed and revertant vole cells, as well as from ASV-infected chicken embryo fibroblasts. src protein kinase activity associated with plasma membrane fractions prepared from vole cells and ASV-infected chicken embryo fibroblasts was resistant to extraction with high salt concentrations, but partial elution was achieved with nonionic detergent. Thus, in both transformed and morphologically reverted vole cells, pp60src is intimately associated with the plasma membrane. Since transforming virus can be rescued from revertant vole cells by fusion to chicken embryo fibroblasts, revertant vole cell pp60src is capable of inducing morphological transformation. Thus, although the data presented herein suggest that transformation requires the association of pp60src with the plasma membrane, the binding of pp60src to the plasma membrane per se is insufficient to induce morphological transformation and requires the additional interaction with a specific target membrane protein which appears to be defective in revertant vole cells.     

Solubilization of adenylate cyclase from normal and Rous sarcoma-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts.

Adenylate cyclase activities in membranes prepared from Rous sarcoma-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts are 2 to 4 times lower than in membranes prepared from normal chicken embryo fibroblasts. Adenylate cyclase activities were solubilized from normal and transformed membranes with five different nonionic detergents. In all cases, the specific activities of the enzyme solubilized from normal and transformed preparations were essentially identical. These data suggest that the microenvironment of adenylate cyclase in transformed membranes may be wholly or partially responsible for the decreased activities of this enzyme.     

Immunochemical purification of probe-labeled plasma membrane proteins: An approach to the molecular anatomy of the cell surface

The probe 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sodium sulfonate may be used under appropriate conditions for selective labelling of plasma membrane proteins exposed at the outer cell surface. Labeled proteins, solubilized by detergents, can be purified by reverse immunoadsorption using antiprobe antibodies covalently linked to Sepharose 4B. This method has been applied to an investigation of the outer cell surface structure of chicken embryo and hamster fibroblasts. Coelectrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels of probe-labeled membrane proteins purified from baby hamster kidney fibroblasts have shown that 7 major protein groups of different molecular weight are exposed on both control and Rous sarcoma or polyoma virus-transformed cells. Moreover, the transformed cells display a nonvirion component of 80–100 k daltons that is not labeled by the probe in normal cells. In fibroblasts transformed by a temperature sensitive Rous sarcoma virus mutant, that transforms at 37°C but not at 41°C, the expression of this component is related to the expression of the transformed phenotype.     

Cell to substratum adhesion-promoting activity released by normal and virus-transformed cells in culture

It is demonstrated here that cultured fibroblasts release into their medium a nondialyzable, protease-sensitive factor(s) capable of promoting the adhesion and spreading of virus-transformed rat fibroblasts on a plastic substratum. A relatively sensitive biological assay is described for quantitation of the adhesion-promoting factor (APF) activity in serum-free, conditioned medium harvested from the cultures. Evidence is presented which indicates that the primary mode of action of the APF is by binding to and modifying the properties of the substratum. Conditioned media harvested after 24 h of incubation in similarly populated cultures of normal fibroblasts of diverse animal species exhibited similar levels of APF activity. However, conditioned media obtained from Rous sarcoma virus (Prague strain)-transformed and avian sarcoma virus B77-transformed rat fibroblasts exhibited three- to sixfold lower levels of APF activity than media conditioned in parallel cultures of heterologous or homologous normal fibroblasts. Cultivation of B77 virus-transformed rat cells in the presence of dibutyryl cyclic AMP and theophylline led to as much as a sevenfold increase in the level of APF activity appearing in the culture medium, with a concomitant increase in the adhesiveness of the cells to the culture substratum. The results support the role of extracellular macromolecules in cell to substratum adhesion. It is postulated that the reduced adhesiveness of transformed cells to a substratum may be at least partially owing to a deficiency in the production and/or release of APF-like macromolecules.     

v-myb transformation of Xeroderma pigmentosum human fibroblasts: overexpression of the c-Ha-ras oncogene in the transformed cells

Human Xeroderma pigmentosum "normal" fibroblasts AS16 (XP4 VI) were transformed after transfection with a recombinant v-myb clone. In this clone (pKXA 3457) derived from avian myeloblastosis virus (AMV), the expression of the oncogene sequences is driven by the AMV U-5 LTR promoter. The transformed cells (ASKXA), which have integrated a rearranged v-myb oncogene, grow in agar, are not tumorigenic in nude mice, and express a 45-kDa v-myb protein. The HMW DNA of these cells transform chicken embryo fibroblasts. The c-Ha-ras oncogene is overexpressed in the ASKXA cells but not in the parental "normal" AS16 cells and a revertant clone (ASKXA Cl 1.1 G). Our results lead to the conclusion that the XP fibroblasts are phenotypically transformed by the presence of the transfected v-myb oncogene, which is able to induce an overexpression of the c-Ha-ras gene.     

Rescue of Rous Sarcoma Virus from Rous Sarcoma Virus-Transformed Mammalian Cells

Rat cells transformed by the B77 strain of avian sarcoma virus produce no virus-like particles, yet B77 virus was rescued from these cells by Sendai virus-mediated fusion with chicken cells. This virus rescue was not affected by treatment of the chicken cells with agents that rendered the cells incapable of dividing, although such treatment greatly reduced the ability of the chicken cells to plate as infectious centers after infection with B77 virus. Fusion of R(B77) cells with chicken erythrocytes also led to virus rescue, although with less efficiency than fusion with chicken fibroblasts. Therefore, virus rescue was probably due to a factor or factors contributed by chicken cells which aid in virus production.     

The src oncogene can regulate a human glucose transporter expressed in chicken embryo fibroblasts.

When fibroblasts are transformed by the src oncogene, there is a two- to fivefold increase in glucose transport and in the level of immunoprecipitable glucose transporter protein. In chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs), this increase is correlated with a comparable reduction in the rate at which the glucose transporter protein is turned over. In contrast, in mammalian fibroblasts glucose transporter biosynthesis is increased by src, but there is little or no change in its turnover. To further understand the action of src on transporter turnover, we investigated whether a mammalian transporter can be stabilized by src in a chicken cell environment. The human type 1 glucose transporter protein (hGT), originally cloned from HepG2 cells, was expressed in CEFs or Rat-1 fibroblasts by using a retroviral vector. In CEFs transformed by a temperature-sensitive src mutant, tsNY68, turnover of hGT was lower at the permissive temperature (36 degrees C) than at the nonpermissive temperature (42 degrees C). When this protein was expressed in CEFs transformed by wild-type src, no difference in turnover was observed at the two temperatures. In the case of Rat-1 cells transformed by the temperature-sensitive src mutant tsLA29, turnover of hGT was the same at the permissive temperature (35 degrees C) as at the nonpermissive temperature (39.5 degrees C). These data demonstrate that a heterologous glucose transporter behaves in the same way in chicken and rat cells as the respective endogenous transporter, i.e., when src is active, the protein is stablilized against turnover in chicken cells but not in rat cells.     

31P NMR spectra of rodent and avian fibroblasts transformed by Rous or Kirsten sarcoma viruses

31P NMR spectra of normal rodent and avian fibroblasts were compared to those of the same cells transformed either by the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) or by the Kirsten sarcoma virus (Ki-MSV). Under physiological conditions, the spectra of living or perchloric acid extracted chicken embryo fibroblasts, rat cell line FR3T3 and mouse cell line C127 did not differ from those of their counterparts transformed by RSV or Ki-MSV. However, in the case of FR3T3 cells, on shifting from 37 degrees C to 20 degrees C, and particularly if PBS replaced serum growth medium, a different, though transitory, response of the transformed cells was detected. They then showed, within few minutes, a more rapid ATP depletion with accumulation of fructose 1,6-diphosphate (FDP), as compared to normal control cells.     

Comparison of cAMP-dependent protein kinase in normal and Rous sarcoma virus transformed chick embryo fibroblasts

cAMP-dependent protein kinase was compared in normal and Rous Sarcoma Virus transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts. Total cAMP binding activity and cAMP-dependent histone kinase activity were unaltered by RSV transformation. The apparent Km for activation of histone kinase activity by cAMP was 35 nM in both normal and transformed cells. Using 8-N3-cAMP photoaffinity labeling, normal and transformed cells were also found to contain equal quantities of a single 42,000 Mr regulatory sub-unit isoenzyme of A-kinase. This isoenzyme corresponded to the lower molecular weight isoenzyme of the two enzymes found in normal chicken skeletal muscle. Both avian isoenzymes were about 4,000 Mr smaller than the corresponding bovine type I and type II regulatory subunits. Rous Sarcoma Virus transformation does not directly alter the amount or activity of cAMP-dependent protein kinase.     

Fibronectin from chicken embryo fibroblasts contains covalently bound phosphate

Fibronectin isolated from cultures of chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) contains phosphorus linked to serine and threonine by monoester bonds. Normal and Rous sarcoma virus (RSV)-transformed cells were incubated with [32P]orthophosphate, and fibronectin was isolated from the cell surfaces and conditioned media. 32P was stably associated with fibronectin during immunoprecipitation, SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, phospholipid solvent extraction, and hot acid but not alkaline treatment. After a limited acid hydrolysis of fibronectin, both phosphoserine and phosphothreonine were found. The specific radioactivity of the 32P-labeled fibronectin from the conditioned medium of normal CEF was higher than that from the cultures of transformed CEF.     

Increased membrane transport of 2-deoxyglucose and 3-O-methylglucose is an early event in the transformation of chick embryo fibroblasts by Rous sarcoma virus.

Transformation of chicken embryo fibroblasts with Rous sarcoma virus results in cells with an enhanced rate of hexose uptake. We have examined transport of the glucose analogs 2-deoxyglucose and 3-O-methylglucose in cells infected with a temperature sensitive variant of the virus. In cells shifted from restrictive to permissive conditions for transformation, increased transport of the non-phosphorylatable analog 3-O-methylglucose occurs at the same time as that of 2-deoxyglucose, a phosphorylatable analog. This enhanced rate of transport can be observed within three hours of the temperature shift. There is a corresponding decrease in the transport rate of both analogs following shift to the restrictive temperature. These results suggest that increased transport is likely to be the primary event in causing transformation-specific changes in sugar metabolism. We have also examined uptake into the internal pools of both the phosphorylated and non-phosphorylated forms of 2-deoxyglucose in normal cells and in cells transformed by the wild-type virus. These data indicate a corresponding increase in the rate of accumulation of the free sugar in transformed cells and point to transport as the rate limiting step in the accumulation of 2-deoxyglucose in both normal and transformed chicken embryo cells.     

A comparison between adenylate cyclase solubilized from normal and Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts

The specific activity of adenylate cyclase in membrane preparations obtained from Rous Sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts is two to four times lower than that found in untransformed membranes. Adenylate cyclase was solubilized from normal and transformed membranes in order to evaluate the influence of the membrane phase on the properties of the enzyme. Adenylate cyclase in normal and transformed membranes differed in specific activity, V for ATP, activation entropies, sensitivity to Ca2+, and stability at 37 degrees C. Solubilization with Brij 96 abolished or greatly reduced these differences. These data suggest that the differences between adenylate cyclase activities in normal and transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts are due either to differential modulation of enzyme activity by an effector which requires intact membranes for its effects, or indirect effects due to altered membrane properties.     

Cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus release transforming growth factors

Chicken embryo fibroblasts and hamster BHK cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) release in their culture media growth factors which enhance markedly anchorage-independent colony formation in gelified medium, at the restrictive temperature (41 degrees 5 C), of chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) infected by RSV mutants with a ts mutation of the src gene. This action is not observed with uninfected CEF, and, therefore, appears to require some expression of the viral src gene in the target cells. The enhancing factors are proteins related to the family of the transforming growth factors (TGFs) by their molecular weight (about 20 kd), their heat and acid resistance, and their sensitivity to dithiothreitol. They do not compete with 125I EGF for binding on the EGF receptors of the membrane of A431 cells. As chicken embryo fibroblasts are devoid of EGF receptors, their activity is not potentiated by EGF.     

Purification of a hemolytic factor from ras oncogene transformed fibroblasts

Transformation of NIH-3T3 fibroblasts by the Harvey murine sarcoma viral oncogene or by cultivation of fibroblasts under low serum conditions (spontaneous) resulted in the acquisition of hemolytic activity, as demonstrated by coincubation of the transformed fibroblasts with 59Fe-labeled red blood cells. The tumor Hemolytic Factor was partially purified from conditioned media produced by T-24 human bladder transformed fibroblasts by ammonium sulfate precipitation, followed by anion and gel filtration chromatography. The hemolytic factor has a molecular weight of 66,000 as documented by SDS-PAGE and is destroyed by heating to 60 degrees C.     

Molecular weight dependence of hyaluronic acid produced during oncogenic transformation

Cultured chicken embryo fibroblasts synthesize two distinct molecular size classes of hyaluronic acid. The high molecular weight material (form I, 2.98 x 10(6) is the predominant species synthesized by transformed cells, whereas form II (1.42 x 10(5)) is the major product of non-transformed cells. A shift to synthesis of predominantly form I hyaluronic acid is an early transformation event in cells infected with LA24 Rous sarcoma virus and maintained at the permissive temperature for transformation (35 degrees C). Form I hyaluronic acid exhibits greater binding to preparations of cellular fibronectin and to both normal and transformed cells than does form II. Both forms bind more to transformed cells than to normal, uninfected cells. Hyaluronic acid (predominantly form I) isolated from transforming cells stimulates proliferation in growth-retarded, non-transformed cells.