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Journal of Virology, October 2005, p. 12592-12596, Vol. 79, No. 19
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.79.19.12592-12596.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712
Received 29 April 2005/ Accepted 5 July 2005
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To determine the contribution of the MMTV LTR to viral disease specificity, various mutant proviruses have been constructed by our laboratory and others. Viruses produced using an MMTV molecular clone, HYB-MTV (20) (Fig. 1A), which contained the entire LTR from thymotropic MMTVs MA and DL8 (23) or a 440-bp segment (encompassing the deleted and substituted region) of the TBLV LTR (14) induced thymic lymphomas instead of mammary tumors. These studies suggested that cis-acting LTR elements determine viral tumorigenicity since TBLV Sag is dispensable for lymphomagenesis in BALB/cJ mice (14). To distinguish the relative contributions of the NRE and the T-cell enhancer to MMTV-induced disease, we analyzed additional mutants.
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FIG. 1. Construction and characterization of mutant MMTV LTRs. (A) Diagram of the hybrid proviral clone of MMTV, HYB-MTV. The 5' portion of the provirus, including the LTR, is derived from the endogenous MMTV strain Mtv1 (white), while the 3' portion, including the LTR, is derived from the exogenous C3H MMTV (gray). The coiled extension at the 3' end of the provirus denotes the flanking cellular DNA at the site of proviral integration. The recognition sites of restriction enzymes used in this study are also shown. (B) Diagram of the MMTV, TBLV, and mutant MMTV LTRs. The arrow on the MMTV LTR shows the transcription start site at the U3-R border. sag coding potential is shown as a black (full-length Sag) or gray (truncated Sag) box under each LTR. (C) Transcriptional efficiencies of wild-type MMTV, mutant MMTV, and TBLV LTRs in transient-transfection assays of Jurkat T cells. Luciferase (LUC) activity is reported in light units normalized for DNA uptake as measured by cotransfection with the Renilla luciferase expression plasmid, pRL-TK. LUC activities from the TBLV and mutant MMTV LTRs are depicted relative to that from the MMTV LTR (assigned a value of 1). Standard deviations from the means of triplicate assays are shown. (D) Transcriptional efficiencies of wild-type MMTV, mutant MMTV, and TBLV LTRs in HC11 mouse mammary cells. HC11 cells were grown in the absence (white bars) or presence (gray bars) of 106 M DEX for 24 h prior to assays. LUC activity is reported in light units normalized for DNA uptake as measured by cotransfection with the pRL-TK reporter plasmid. LUC activities from the TBLV and mutant MMTV LTRs are depicted relative to that from the MMTV LTR in the absence of DEX (assigned a value of 1). Standard deviations from the means of triplicate assays are shown. Significance was determined by Student's t test.
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NRE, has been described previously (12) and lacks the entire NRE and the flanking T-cell-enhancer sequences (Fig. 1B).
The mutant LTRs were linked to the firefly luciferase gene and used in transient-transfection assays of human Jurkat T cells. Wild-type TBLV and MTVAflE LTRs demonstrated similar transcriptional strengths that were ca. 700-fold higher than that of the MMTV LTR (Fig. 1C). As previously demonstrated, deletion of the NRE alone (MTV
NRE) resulted in a 3-fold increase in reporter gene activity (12) (data not shown), whereas insertion of the TBLV T-cell enhancer upstream of the NRE (MTVStuE) resulted in a 250-fold elevation of luciferase activity (Fig. 1C). These results indicate that the placement of the TBLV enhancer between the MMTV NRE and the LTR promoter abolishes NRE activity in Jurkat T cells.
Since the TBLV enhancer contains a triplication of the hormone-responsive element (12), we also analyzed the transcriptional activity of the mutant LTRs in mouse mammary cells expressing functional glucocorticoid receptors. All LTRs, except for that of MTV
NRE, had statistically similar transcriptional efficiencies after transient transfections of HC11 cells grown in the absence of a glucocorticoid, dexamethasone (DEX), suggesting that T-cell enhancer addition (12) conferred no transcriptional advantage in mammary cells (Fig. 1D). As anticipated, the wild-type MMTV LTR gave a fivefold increase in reporter activity in the presence of DEX. Glucocorticoid induction of the MTV
NRE LTR was not statistically significant (P > 0.25), presumably because NRE deletion elevates basal MMTV transcription approximately fourfold (Fig. 1D). Enhanced glucocorticoid induction of the TBLV, MTVAflE, and MTVStuE LTRs may be attributed to altered spacing and triplication of a hormone-responsive element within the TBLV enhancer (2). However, the overall expression from the MTVStuE LTR appeared to be diminished compared to that from the MTVAflE LTR, both of which contained the NRE, suggesting that the NRE may serve as a position-dependent insulator (4). Placement of the TBLV enhancer downstream of the NRE (MTVAflE) may provide the same effect as NRE deletion (TBLV).
Lymphomagenic MMTVs require NRE loss and T-cell enhancer acquisition.
AvrII-to-SstI segments of the mutant MMTV LTRs were replaced in the corresponding region of the HYB-MTV 3' LTR (Fig. 1A). Jurkat T cells stably expressing wild-type (Jurkat/HYB-MTV) or mutant viruses (Jurkat/HYB-MTVStuE, Jurkat/HYB-MTVAflE, and Jurkat/HYB-MTV
NRE) were isolated. Comparable MMTV Gag expression levels of transfected cells were verified by Western blotting (Fig. 2A) prior to intraperitoneal inoculation of 2 x 107 cells into weanling BALB/cJ mice. Sag-reactive CD4+ Vß14+ T cells were deleted at 3 months postinoculation with Jurkat/HYB-MTV and Jurkat/HYB-MTVAflE (Fig. 2B), while nonreactive CD4+ Vß8+ T cells remained unaffected. The significantly faster T-cell deletion in HYB-MTVAflE-infected mice might be due to the higher viral loads resulting from enhanced viral transcription and replication in T cells (Fig. 1C). Deletion of Sag-reactive T cells was not detectable in mice injected with HYB-MTVStuE transfectants, consistent with our previous data that truncation of Sag by more than a few amino acids is incompatible with T-cell deletion (22).
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FIG. 2. Protein expression and Sag-mediated deletion induced by wild-type MMTV and mutant viruses. (A) Western blot analysis comparing viral Gag expression levels in Jurkat T cells expressing wild-type (Jurkat/HYB-MTV) or mutant (Jurkat/HYB-MTVStuE, Jurkat/HYB-MTVAflE, and Jurkat/HYB-MTV NRE) MMTV proviruses. Stably transfected Jurkat cells were derived by electroporation with the appropriate proviral constructs carrying the hygromycin resistance cassette, followed by growth selection in 250 µg/ml hygromycin. Three different amounts (100, 50, and 20 µg) of whole-cell lysates were analyzed on 8% sodium dodecyl sulfate-containing polyacrylamide gels. The Gag precursor (arrow) was detected with an MMTV capsid-specific monoclonal antibody (17) using a protocol described previously (15). The same amounts of cellular lysates were incubated with antibodies specific for actin as a control for protein loading. (B) Flow cytometric analysis of Sag-mediated peripheral deletion of T cells. Injected mice were analyzed at 3 months after injection with Jurkat T cells stably expressing wild-type or mutant MMTV proviruses. CD4+ Vß14+ and CD4+ Vß8+ peripheral T cells were detected using phycoerythrin-conjugated anti-mouse CD4 monoclonal antibody (RM4-5) and fluorescein-conjugated anti-mouse TCR Vß14 (14-2) or Vß8.1 and 8.2 (MR5-2) monoclonal antibodies from Pharmingen (San Diego, Calif.). The cells were analyzed using a FACSCalibur (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, N.J.) and CELLQuest software. The percentages of TCR Vß+ cells in the gated CD4+ T-cell populations were calculated. The number of animals (N) analyzed from each group is indicated above each bar. The mean percentage (±standard deviation) of CD4+ TCR Vß+ T cells in each group is shown.
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NRE also induced only mammary tumors in 20% of the inoculated female mice within 10 ± 2.8 months, indicating that NRE deletion alone is insufficient for lymphomagenesis. Our previous data indicated that HYB-TBLV induced exclusively T-cell lymphomas, with an incidence of 50% and an average latency of 5.7 ± 1.5 months (14). However, 50% of HYB-MTVStuE-infected mice developed mammary tumors within 8.7 ± 2.1 months, whereas 30% developed thymic lymphomas within 8 ± 2.6 months. One animal infected with HYB-MTVStuE (mouse 4) developed both tumor types. HYB-MTVAflE infection induced a 17% incidence of mammary tumors and a 22% incidence of thymic lymphomas, with latencies of 6 months and 6.8 ± 1.1 months, respectively. Kaplan-Meier plots followed by Wilcoxon or log rank tests indicated that the mammary tumor incidence for each of the mutants was significantly different than that for wild-type HYB-MTV (Fig. 3A), but the difference among the various mutants was not statistically significant. Lymphomas have never been observed after infection with HYB-MTV (Fig. 3B), even after the inoculation of much larger numbers of animals (22, 26). The lower incidence of mammary and T-cell tumors induced by MTVStuE viruses may be due to a suboptimal arrangement of cis-acting sequences in the LTRs, leading to lower transcriptional activity (Fig. 1C) and favoring recombination with endogenous MMTVs. The lower incidence and latency of tumors induced by MTVAflE did not lead to lower transcriptional activity or recombination with endogenous MMTVs; however, Sag-mediated deletion by this virus was significantly faster statistically than that by HYB-MTV (Fig. 2B). Thus, altered tumorigenesis by MTVAflE might result from the deletion of T cells required for dissemination of the virus or tumor targets, as suggested by Papiernik et al. (16).
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FIG. 3. Kaplan-Meier plots of incidence of mammary tumors and thymic lymphomas induced by wild-type and mutant MMTV proviruses. Female mice were caged to maintain continuous breeding and lactation. Mice that died from nontumor causes (e.g., birthing problems) before the average latency of tumor induction were excluded from the study. (A) Development of mammary tumors. Numbers in parentheses indicate the numbers of animals with tumors/total numbers of injected females. The circles indicate one or more animals that died without any detectable tumors. (B) Development of thymic lymphomas. Numbers in parentheses indicate numbers of animals with tumors/total numbers of injected males and females. One mouse injected with HYB-MTVStuE developed both a mammary tumor and a thymic lymphoma after 11 months of latency.
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FIG. 4. LTR structure of acquired proviruses in wild-type and mutant MMTV-induced mammary tumors (MT) and thymic lymphomas (TL). (A) Southern blotting of tumor DNA using the full-length MMTV LTR probe. (B) Southern blotting of tumor DNA with the MMTV NRE probe (StuI-to-AflII fragment of the MMTV LTR). Genomic DNA was digested with PstI, separated on 0.8% agarose gels, transferred to nitrocellulose, and hybridized as previously described (9). Southern blotting of genomic DNA from an uninfected BALB/cJ mouse liver (LI) was used to distinguish the bands originating from the three endogenous Mtvs in the BALB/cJ strain. White asterisks (lanes 5, 7, 10, 11, and 13) indicate the LTR fragments of predominant acquired proviruses in virus-induced tumors.
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NRE-induced mammary tumor had reacquired the NRE, suggesting that the presence of this region might favor mammary tumorigenesis (Fig. 4A and B, lane 13). Furthermore, the low tumor incidence of HYB-MTV
NRE might be dependent on the appearance of such recombinants. In conclusion, development of lymphomagenic MMTVs requires alterations of transcriptional regulatory elements in the LTR. Loss of NRE activity and T-cell enhancer acquisition allow increased viral expression in T cells, resulting in a higher probability of insertional mutagenesis. The viral enhancer also may be critical for transcriptional upregulation of selected cellular oncogenes, such as c-myc and rorc, in T cells (5, 6, 18).
We also acknowledge support from NIH grants P01 CA77760 and R01 CA34780.
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(Rorc) is a common integration site in type B leukemogenic virus-induced T-cell lymphomas. J. Virol. 78:4943-4946.
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