Selective lysis of cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus

Abstract

Dibucaine and several other local anaesthetics exert a lytic action on chick embryo fibroblast cultures. Cultures infected and transformed by avian sarcoma viruses of antigenic subgroups C and D (but not A or B) are more sensitive to the lytic action of these agents than are normal, uninfected cultures. The selective action of dibucaine is dependent on drug concentration in the culture medium, duration of exposure, and on the Ca 2+ concentration in the medium. Dibucaine does not directly inhibit virus infection, cellular transformation, or virus multiplication. Dibucaine does not selectively inhibit cation flux or macromolecule synthesis in transformed or in normal cells. The differential toxicity to transformed cells is correlated with an enhanced uptake of the drug (2–3-fold higher than uninfected cells) from the culture medium.