Normal Chicken Embryo Fibroblasts Research Articles

The response of chicken embryo dermal fibroblasts to cytochalasin B is altered by Rous sarcoma virus-induced cell transformation.

The drug cytochalasin B (CB), which disrupts the cellular microfilament network, allows the identification of as yet unclassified structural differences between normal and Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts. When exposed to CB, normal chick fibroblasts attain an arborized or dendritic morphology. This results as the cytoplasm collapses upon the remaining structural and adhesive components of the cell. Rous sarcoma virus-transformed cells did not form or maintain these dendritic-like processes in the presence of CB and, as a result, rounded up but still remained attached to the substrate. With a temperature-sensitive mutant of Rous sarcoma virus, LA24A, it was possible to show that these effects are completely reversible and dependent on the expression of pp60src. The cytoskeleton in these CB-treated cells was examined by both immunofluorescence and electron microscopy. After exposure to CB, the microfilaments were found to be disrupted similarly throughout both the transformed and the nontransformed cells. In the nontransformed cells arborized by exposure to CB, the extended processes were found to contain intermediate filaments in an unusually high concentration and degree of organization. The distribution of these filaments in the central body of the arborized cells was random. This lower concentration and random distribution was similar to that seen throughout the transformed cells rounded up by exposure to CB. The failure of these transformed cells to arborize in CB indicates that the structural component(s) which is necessary for the formation or maintenance or both of the arborized state is altered by the expression of pp60src.

5'-nucleotidase activity in permanent human lymphoid cell lines. Implication for cell proliferation and aging in vitro.

Abstract 5′-Nucleotidase of 11 human lymphoid cell lines was measured. These cell ines were homogeneous B, T and Null cells, had an unlimited lifespan in vitro, and were subcultivated from leukemic cells of patients with Burkitt lymphoma, the blastic phase of chronic myelocytic leukemia, or acute lymphoblastic leukemia. 5′-Nucleotidase activities in normal human lymphocytes and in human fibroblasts (VA-13 and IMR-90) could be determined at a cellular protein concentration as low as 0.025 and 0.007 mg/ml, respectively. In all the eleven lymphoid cell lines, including 8 B-cell lines (RPMI 8422, B46M, RPMI 1788, DAUDI, HRIK, B411-4, B85 and DND-3-9A), 2 T-cell lines (MOLT 3 and RPMI 8402) and 1 Null cell line (NALM-1) 5′-nucleotidase was undetectable with the protein concentration range from 0.033 to 8.543 mg/ml. Previously 5′-nucleotidase activity was found to increase 10-, 6- and 20-fold in normal human embryonic lung (WI-38 and IMR-90 cells) and chick embryo fibroblasts, respectively, from a young rapidly proliferative to a senescent non-proliferative stage (Sun, A.S., Aggarwal, B.B. and Packer, L. (1975) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 170, 1 and Sun, A.S., Alvarez, L.J. Reinach, P.S. and Rubin, E. (1979) Lab. Invest. 41, 1). These data demonstrate that the large increase in 5′-nucleotidase activity occurs concomitantly with the in vitro senescence of these normal cell lines. The present study suggests that this large increase in 5′-nucleotidase activity during cell aging is absent in these permanently lymphoid cell lines. The undetectable 5′-nucleotidase activity may be a biochemical characteristic of these homogeneous B, T and Null cells originating from the aforesaid leukemias. The implications of these results for cell proliferation and aging are discussed.

Plasminogen Activator: Analysis of Enzyme Induction by Ultraviolet Irradiation Mapping

Ultraviolet irradiation mapping techniques have previously been used to study the organization of eucaryotic gene classes and transcription units. We used the same method to probe some regulatory phenomena observed in the induction of plasminogen activator (PA) biosynthesis: PA synthesis in chicken embryo fibroblasts is induced by tumor-promoting phorbol esters and by retinoic acid; furthermore, PA induction by phorbol esters is synergistic with transformation, being 10- to 20-fold greater in virus-transformed cells than in normal cells. We found that the ultraviolet irradiation inactivation cross sections for PA induction by phorbol esters and by retinoate differed significantly, suggesting that these agents induce PA biosynthesis by different mechanisms. On the other hand, the ultraviolet irradiation sensitivity of phorbol ester induction in normal chicken embryo fibroblasts was the same as in transformed cells, indicating that the synergism of transformation and phorbol esters is probably not due to different pathways of PA induction.

Plasminogen activator: analysis of enzyme induction by ultraviolet irradiation mapping.

Ultraviolet irradiation mapping techniques have previously been used to study the organization of eucaryotic gene classes and transcription units. We used the same method to probe some regulatory phenomena observed in the induction of plasminogen activator (PA) biosynthesis: PA synthesis in chicken embryo fibroblasts is induced by tumor-promoting phorbol esters and by retinoic acid; furthermore, PA induction by phorbol esters is synergistic with transformation, being 10- to 20-fold greater in virus-transformed cells than in normal cells. We found that the ultraviolet irradiation inactivation cross sections for PA induction by phorbol esters and by retinoate differed significantly, suggesting that these agents induce PA biosynthesis by different mechanisms. On the other hand, the ultraviolet irradiation sensitivity of phorbol ester induction in normal chicken embryo fibroblasts was the same as in transformed cells, indicating that the synergism of transformation and phorbol esters is probably not due to different pathways of PA induction.

Human cells contain two forms of pp60c-src.

Normal chicken embryo fibroblasts contain a gene, c-src, which is homologous to the avian sarcoma virus transforming gene, src1. Both genes code for a 60,000-molecular weight (Mr) protein which is phosphorylated at serine and tyrosine residues2–11 and has the unusual function of phosphorylating tyrosine residues10,11. We report here that both normal human fibroblasts and A431 human epidermoid carcinoma cells contain two forms of the normal cell protein pp60c-Src which were resolved electrophoretically using a 10% polyacrylamide gel. The 60,000-Mr form is phosphorylated primarily at tyrosine, while the 59,000-Mr form is phosphorylated at serine. 35S-methionine chymotryptic maps show that the two forms are clearly related, although several significant differences are observed.

Temperature-dependent and transformation-associated changes in polyamine metabolism in normal and rous sarcoma virus-infected chick embryo fibroblasts

Tertiary cultures of chick embryo fibroblasts infected and transformed by the wild-type Rous sarcoma virus, when actively growing at 35°C, had higher putrescine levels than the respective uninfected cells. Transformed cells also had much higher specific activity of ornithine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.17) than the normal fibroblasts. At 41°C the difference in putrescine levels between the normal and the transformed cells was less marked, and both cell types showed a relative accumulation of spermine. Cultures infected with the NY68 mutant virus, which is temperature-sensitive for transformation, showed at 41°C normal cell morphology and intermediate polyamine patterns, while at 35°C a transformed phenotype was found in both aspects. In shift-down experiments a change towards the permissive temperature pattern of polyamine metabolism was evident within 2–3h. Difluoromethylornithine, a specific and irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase efficiently reduced the enzyme activity as well as the levels of both putrescine and spermidine in all culture types and temperatures. Incubation of Rous sarcoma virus-transformed cells with 3 mM difluoromethylornithine for 36 h did not affect the maintenance of the transformed state. Likewise, when NY68-infected cultures were exposed to difluoromethylornithine at 41°C for 12h and then shifted down to 35°C, the appearance of the transformed morphology took place concomitantly with that of the control cultures without respective changes in the polyamine levels. This suggests that the transformation-associated pattern of polyamines in chick embryo fibroblasts is not a prerequisite for morphological transformation of these cells.

Tropomyosin is decreased in transformed cells.

The steady-state level and synthesis of a pair of polypeptides of Mr 33,000 and 35,000 in chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) transformed by Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) are significantly decreased relative to normal CEF; however, the decrease is more pronounced in the case of the Mr 35,000 polypeptide. These polypeptides have been identified as the alpha and beta subunits of CEF tropomyosin by selective staining with tropomyosin antibody, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, partial peptide analysis, and solubility properties. The decrease in tropomyosin is shown to be a transformation-specific phenomenon in that it does not occur after infection with a virus deleted in src sequences. Decreased synthesis of tropomyosin is also observed in quail cells transformed by MC29 (a retrovirus with a different onc gene than that in RSV) and also in chemically transformed quail cells. The decreased in tropomyosin is probably not a direct result of the disruption of the microfilament system in transformed cells because disruption of the microfilament system with trypsin or cytochalasin B in normal CEF does not lead to a decrease in tropomyosin synthesis. A decrease in tropomyosin in CEF after transformation may be a result of a pleiotropic effect that results in the transcriptional inactivation not only of the tropomyosin gene but also of the fibronectin and procollagen genes described by others.

Transport of D-glucose by membrane vesicles from normal and avian sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts.

Transport of D-glucose was examined in membrane vesicles from normal and avian sarcoma virus (ASV)-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts. The initial rates of D-glucose transport were found to be 3- to 5-fold higher for vesicles from glucose-starved normal cells and ASV-transformed cells when compared with transport rates for vesicles from normal cells and serum-starved normal cells. Cytochalasin B, phloretin, and diethylstilbestrol inhibited the initial rate of transport in all types of vesicles, and 2-deoxyglucose, 3-O-methylglucose, and galactose were competitive inhibitors. At D-glucose concentrations between 0.25 and 5 mM, vesicles from normal and ASV-transformed cells displayed saturation kinetics with a Km value of 5 mM for both types of vesicles, with transformed cell vesicles showing a 3-fold increase in Vmax compared with normal cell vesicles. At D-glucose concentrations between 5 and 25 mM the initial rate of D-glucose transport was proportional to D-glucose concentration. The vesicles also showed an inhibitor-sensitive efflux at rates similar to those observed for influx.

Phosphorylation of ribosomal protein S6 in avian sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts.

Protein phosphorylation was examined in whole cell extracts from normal and avian sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts. The addition of serum or epidermal growth factor to serum-starved normal cells resulted in increased 32P labeling of a Mr 30,000 protein. In extracts from cells transformed by a temperature-sensitive mutant of Schmidt-Ruppin virus, subgroup A, and grown at the permissive temperature, the protein was phosphorylated regardless of serum starvation. This Mr 30,000 protein was shown to be ribosomal protein S6, and the effects of avian sarcoma virus transformation on S6 phosphorylation were further investigated. The ability to phosphorylate S6 in the absence of serum was found to be temperature sensitive when S6 preparations from the temperature-sensitive mutant-infected cells incubated at permissive and nonpermissive temperatures were compared. Cells transformed by the parent virus (Schmidt-Ruppin, subgroup A) maintained the ability to phosphorylate S6 in the absence of serum when incubated at either temperature. Phosphoserine was the only phospho-amino acid detected in acid hydrolysates from phosphorylated S6 preparations.

Coordinate transcriptional regulation of type I procollagen genes by Rous sarcoma virus.

Chicken embryo fibroblasts infected with a strain of Rous sarcoma virus containing a temperature-sensitive mutation in the gene coding for pp60src, a protein kinase, undergo changes in collagen synthesis within 4 h after a temperature shift. Cells shifted from the restrictive to the permissive temperature for transformation show decreasing levels of collagen synthesis and increasing levels of kinase activity; the reverse occurs when infected cells are shifted from the permissive to the restrictive temperature. Levels of type I procollagen mRNAs coding for pro alpha 1 and pro alpha 2 chains, measured by hybridization to nick-translated cloned alpha 1 and alpha 2 cDNA, decreased simultaneously soon after a reduction in temperature and reached a new steady state at about 50 h after the shift. In order to test for regulation at the transcriptional level, nuclei were isolated from normal and Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts and allowed to transcribe in the presence of [alpha-32P]UTP. Procollagen mRNA sequences in newly synthesized and in total RNA from transformed cell preparations were both about 5-fold lower than the levels in normal cell preparations. We conclude that the coordinate decrease in procollagen mRNAs observed in Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chicken embryo fibroblasts is caused primarily by a decrease in the transcription of the type I procollagen genes, a decrease which is directly or indirectly mediated by the pp60src protein kinase.

Cross-reactivity between RSV-induced tumor antigen and B5 MHC alloantigen in the chicken.

Lymphocytes from chickens homozygous (B2B2) at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) were tested for cytotoxic against five types of target chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF). Lymphocytes from B2B2 chickens bearing RSV-induced tumors lysed in vitro targets of B2B2 and B5B5 RSV-infected CEF and B5B5 normal CEF, but did not lyse B2B2 and B24B24 normal CEF. Lymphocytes from normal B2B2 chickens did not lyse any of the five types of CEF targets. Alloantisera absorption studies showed that both RSV-infected and uninfected CEF shared alloantigens, in particular B-F alloantigens, with syngeneic erythrocytes. Absorption with B2B2 RSV-infected CEF significantly lowered the titer of B2B2 anti-B5B5 alloantisera. Cross-reactivity between B5 antigen(s) and tumor-associated antigen was suggested and the nature of the cross-reactivity was discussed. It is hypothesized that this cross-reactivity prevents B5B5 chickens from recognizing the RSV-induced tumors as foreign, enhances tumor growth and leads to death of the host.

Inhibition of biological activity of multiplication-stimulating activity by binding to its carrier protein.

Multiplication-stimulating activity (MSA) produced by Buffalo rat liver cells (BRL-3A) in culture is related to the somatomedin family of growth regulatory polypeptides. MSA will stimulate glucose transport and DNA synthesis in normal chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) at concentrations of 10-200 ng/ml. MSA found in BRL-3A-conditioned medium, like the somatomedins in serum, does not exist as the free hormone but is bound to a specific high molecular weight carrier protein. In this report we demonstrate that purified MSA carrier protein (MCP) inhibits the biological activity of MSA on CEF as measured by the stimulation of glucose transport and DNA synthesis. In addition, purified MCP competitively inhibits the binding of 125I-labeled MSA to these cells. In control experiments in which insulin was used as the mitogenic agent, MCP had no effect on these biological responses. These results indicate that the inhibitory effect of MCP is the result of specific interaction with MSA and support the hypothesis that cells may be unresponsive to somatomedins bound to their serum carrier proteins.

Specific dephosphorylation of membrane proteins in Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chick embryo fibroblasts.

Chick embryo fibroblasts (CEF) infected with avian sarcoma virus become rapidly transformed as a result of expression of the viral src gene in the form of a single polypeptide of molecular weight 60,000 (pp60src) with protein kinase activity and suggested preferential association with the plasma membrane. Studies with normal avian and mammalian cells have revealed the presence of an antigenically related protein which seems to have similar kinase activity, but which is present at less than 1% of the levels of virally induced src protein found in transformed cells. As dynamic phosphorylation is important in numerous regulatory processes, the phenotypic expression of transformation may arise from an imbalance in one or more regulatory mechanisms that are controlled by protein phosphorylation. The cell membrane is affected during transformation, including its phosphotransferase activity. The latter has been shown using isolated membrane fractions whose properties may be changed during preparation. Therefore, we have compared the phosphorylation state of individual membrane proteins found in intact normal and RSV-transformed cells and report here the identification of two heavily phosphorylated, acidic membrane proteins in normal CEF which are specifically dephosphorylated on transformation by wild-type and temperature-sensitive Rous sarcoma viruses.

Transformation of rat cells by fusion-infection with Rous sarcoma virus.

The transformation of a rat cell line, 3Y1, by nonmammalian tropic strains of avian sarcoma virus was tested using cell-virus fusion mediated by Sendai virus or polyethylene glycol. Furthermore, the establishment of several transformed 3Y1 cell clones induced by the Schmidt-Ruppin strain of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), its derivative mutants, and the Bryan high-titer strain of RSV is reported. The presence and expression of the viral genomes in these cells were examined, and all transformed cell clones tested were found to contain rescuable RSV genomes when they had been fused with normal chicken embryo fibroblast cells or those preinfected with Rous-associated virus type 1. However, the gag gene product, pr76, was barely detectable in wild-type RSV-transformed cells, whereas it was produced in considerable amounts in cells transformed by env-deleted mutants, the Bryan high-titer strain of RSV and NY8 derived from the Schmidt-Ruppin strain of RSV.

Phorbol ester action is independent of viral and cellular src kinase levels.

Treatment of normal chick embryo fibroblasts with phorbol myristate acetate causes those cells to express many of the phenotypic properties of virally transformed cells and also enhances the expression of transformed properties in Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chick embryo fibroblasts. We report here that phorbol myristate acetate has little or no effect on the level of protein kinases encoded by the viral src or endogenous sarc genes.

Protease-activated "prodrugs" for cancer chemotherapy.

Many types of malignant cells and human tumors display increased concentrations of the protease plasminogen activator that converts plasminogen to the highly active protease, plasmin. Because plasmin rapidly cleaves various low molecular weight compounds coupled to appropriate peptide specifiers, we hypothesized that coupling of such peptide specifiers to anticancer drugs might create "prodrugs" which would be locally activated by tumor-associated plasmin and consequently would be less toxic to normal cells. To provide an initial test of this concept we have synthesized peptidyl prodrugs of the structure D-Val-Leu-Lys-X in which the peptidyl portion has been designed to allow the prodrug to serve as an excellent plasmin substrate and X is an anticancer drug-either the glutamine analog (alphaS,5S) alpha-amino-3-chloro-4,5-dihydro-5-isoxazole-acetic acid (AT-125) or the alkylating agent N,N-bis(2-chloroethyl)-p-phenylenediamine (phenylenediamine mustard). Treatment of these prodrugs with plasmin generated the free peptide and the free drug, demonstrating that these prodrugs are plasmin substrates. The prodrugs and free drugs were tested in an in vitro system against either normal chicken embryo fibroblasts, which display a low level of plasminogen activator, or their virally transformed counterparts, which produce high levels of plasminogen activator. In each case the peptidyl prodrugs displayed at least a 5-fold increase in selectivity for the transformed cells compared to the free drug. The greater selectivity of action of the peptidyl prodrugs against transformed cell cultures suggests that these or similar prodrugs that are substrates for tumor-associated proteases may show increased therapeutic effectiveness in the treatment of tumors that produce sufficiently increased amounts of plasminogen activator.

Biosynthesis in vitro of mono- and di-sialosylgangliosides from gangliotetraosylceramide by cultured cell lines and young rat brain. Structure of the products, and activity and specificity of sialosyltransferase

Incubations in vitro of G A1, labeled with 3H in the terminal d-galactopyranosyl group, with nonradioactive CMP-NeuNAc in the presence of homogenates of C2 1 rat brain glial cells, NIE mouse neuroblastoma cells, 3T3 mouse fibroblasts, SV 40-transformed 3T3 cells, chick embryo fibroblasts, Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chick embryo fibroblasts, and 9-day old rat brain resulted in all cases in the formation in high yield of G M1b, in which the neuraminidase-labile NeuNAc group is linked at O-3 of the terminal d-galactosyl residue, as shown by permethylation studies. No trace of the naturally occurring neuraminidase-stable G M1a was detected in any case. In addition, with NIE cells, and normal and RSV-transformed chick embryo fibroblasts, a disialosylganglioside (G D1) differing from G D1a and G D1b, and bearing only one substituent at O-3 of the terminal d-galactopyranosyl residue was formed. It was also biosynthesized from G M1b and CMP-NeuNAc by NIE and chick embryo cells but not by C2 1 cells, or rat brain. However, C2 1 cells and rat brain were capable of synthesizing G D1a from G M1a. Periodate oxidation degraded both NeuNAc groups in G D1 to a 7-carbon fragment, indicating lack of substitution at O-8. G M1b could not be detected as a natural product in rat brain.

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 Ca 2+, and stability at 37°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 chichen 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.

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.

Na + and K + concentrations and the regulation of the interferon system in chick cells

Media of altered NaCl concentrations were used to change the intracellular concentrations of Na + and K + in normal chick embryo fibroblasts (CEF) to resemble those which occur after lytic virus infection. In these modified media, CEF produced normal amounts of interferon although the bulk of cellular protein synthesis was inhibited. Since viral mRNAs can be translated under these conditions, interferon mRNA appears to resemble viral mRNAs. Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) replication was not inhibited when interferon-pretreated cells were incubated in altered NaCl media, indicating that the mRNA for at least one interferon-induced antiviral protein is a more typical host mRNA. When interferon-producing cells were incubated in altered NaCl media, normal termination of interferon production did not occur. This suggests that the regulatory protein which shuts off interferon production also has a typical cellular mRNA. In addition, interferon treatment did not change the intracellular concentrations of Na + or K + but did prevent the changes which occur as a consequence of lytic VSV infection.