losartan-potassium and Retroviridae-Infections

The Friend spleen focus-forming virus has been a valuable tool for understanding the molecular events involved in the multiple stages of leukaemia. As summarized in Figure 3, the primary effect of SFFV, which occurs within days, is to cause a polyclonal proliferation of erythroid precursor cells that can proliferate in the absence of their normal regulator erythropoietin. This is the direct result of the unique envelope glycoprotein encoded by SFFV, which is transported to the cell surface and apparently interacts with the EpoR or another component of the multimeric EpoR complex, resulting in the constitutive activation of the Epo signal transduction pathway. Within this proliferating population of erythroid cells is a rare cell that has undergone several genetic changes due to the integration of the viral genome in specific sites in the mouse DNA. This leads to the activation of a gene encoding the PU.1 transcription factor, whose high expression in erythroid cells may be the cause of the block in differentiation that is characteristic of SFFV-transformed erythroid cells. SFFV integration can also lead to the inactivation of the p53 tumour supressor gene, giving these cells a growth advantage in the mouse. The disease induced by SFFV in mice is very similar to polycythaemia vera in humans (Golde et al, 1981). The major clinical feature of polycythaemia vera is the continuous expansion of the number of mature red blood cells in the presence of low serum Epo levels. Also, BFU-E and CFU-E from these patients can form in the absence of Epo like the analogous cells from SFFV-infected mice (Casadevall et al, 1982). It is possible that haematopoietic cells from individuals suffering from this disease express a protein similar to the envelope glycoprotein of SFFV that can interact with the EpoR and lead to its constitutive activation. Alternatively, these patients may contain a mutant EpoR gene that is constitutively activated like the mutant EpoR described earlier. As we understand more fully how the SFFV envelope protein constitutively activates te EpoR complex, we can begin to design therapies to counteract its action that can then be applied to treating patients with polycythaemia vera or other human diseases associated with uncontrolled erythropoiesis.

Topics: Animals; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; Cell Transformation, Viral; Defective Viruses; DNA-Binding Proteins; Erythroid Precursor Cells; Erythropoiesis; Erythropoietin; Friend murine leukemia virus; Genes, env; Genome, Viral; Helper Viruses; Hyperplasia; Leukemia, Erythroblastic, Acute; Leukemia, Experimental; Mice; Mutagenesis, Insertional; Receptors, Erythropoietin; Retroviridae Infections; Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic; Signal Transduction; Spleen Focus-Forming Viruses; Tumor Virus Infections; Viral Envelope Proteins; Virus Replication

Friend erythroleukemia virus has long served as a paradigm for the study of the multistage progression of leukemia. Friend virus infects erythroid progenitor cells, followed by an initial polyclonal expansion of infected cells, which is driven by the activation of a naturally occurring truncated form of the Stk receptor tyrosine kinase (Sf-Stk). Subsequently, the accumulation of additional mutations in p53 and the activation of PU.1 result in full leukemic transformation. The early stages of transformation induced by Friend virus are characterized in vitro by the Epo-independent growth of infected erythroblasts. We have shown previously that this transforming event requires the kinase activity and Grb2 binding site of Sf-Stk and the recruitment of a Grb2/Gab2 complex to Sf-Stk. Here, we demonstrate that Stat3 is required for the Epo-independent growth of Friend virus-infected cells and that the activation of Stat3 by Sf-Stk is mediated by a novel Stat3 binding site in Gab2. These results underscore a central role for Stat3 in hematopoietic transformation and describe a previously unidentified role for Gab2 in the recruitment and activation of Stat3 in response to transforming signals generated by tyrosine kinases.

Topics: Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Binding Sites; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; Disease Progression; Erythroid Precursor Cells; Erythropoietin; Friend murine leukemia virus; Humans; Leukemia, Experimental; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Knockout; Molecular Sequence Data; Phosphoproteins; Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; Retroviridae Infections; Sequence Alignment; STAT3 Transcription Factor; Tumor Virus Infections

Members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, including Jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK) and extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK), play an important role in the proliferation of erythroid cells in response to erythropoietin (Epo). Erythroid cells infected with the Friend spleen focus-forming virus (SFFV) proliferate in the absence of Epo and show constitutive activation of Epo signal transduction pathways. We previously demonstrated that the ERK pathway was constitutively activated in Friend SFFV-infected erythroid cells, and in this study JNK is also shown to be constitutively activated. Pharmacological inhibitors of both the ERK and JNK pathways stopped the proliferation of primary erythroleukemic cells from Friend SFFV-infected mice, with little induction of apoptosis, and furthermore blocked their ability to form Epo-independent colonies. However, only the JNK inhibitor blocked the proliferation of erythroleukemia cell lines derived from these mice. The JNK inhibitor caused significant apoptosis in these cell lines as well as an increase in the fraction of cells in G(2)/M and undergoing endoreduplication. In contrast, the growth of erythroleukemia cell lines derived from Friend murine leukemia virus (MuLV)-infected mice was inhibited by both the MEK and JNK inhibitors. JNK is important for AP1 activity, and we found that JNK inhibitor treatment reduced AP1 DNA-binding activity in primary erythroleukemic splenocytes from Friend SFFV-infected mice and in erythroleukemia cell lines from Friend MuLV-infected mice but did not alter AP1 DNA binding in erythroleukemia cell lines from Friend SFFV-infected mice. These data suggest that JNK plays an important role in cell proliferation and/or the survival of erythroleukemia cells.

Topics: Animals; Anthracenes; Apoptosis; Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases; Cell Line, Transformed; Cell Proliferation; Cell Transformation, Viral; Cells, Cultured; Erythropoietin; Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases; Flavonoids; JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; Leukemia, Experimental; MAP Kinase Kinase Kinases; Mice; Retroviridae Infections; Signal Transduction; Spleen Focus-Forming Viruses; Transcription Factor AP-1; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Tumor Virus Infections

The erythroleukemia-inducing Friend spleen focus-forming virus (SFFV) encodes a unique envelope protein, gp55, which interacts with the erythropoietin (Epo) receptor complex, causing proliferation and differentiation of erythroid cells in the absence of Epo. Susceptibility to SFFV-induced erythroleukemia is conferred by the Fv-2 gene, which encodes a short form of the receptor tyrosine kinase Stk/Ron (sf-Stk) only in susceptible strains of mice. We recently demonstrated that sf-Stk becomes activated by forming a strong interaction with SFFV gp55. To examine the biological consequences of activated sf-Stk on erythroid cell growth, we prepared retroviral vectors which express sf-Stk, either in conjunction with gp55 or alone in a constitutively activated mutant form, and tested them for their ability to induce Epo-independent erythroid colonies ex vivo and disease in mice. Our data indicate that both gp55-activated sf-Stk and the constitutively activated mutant of sf-Stk induce erythroid cells from Fv-2-susceptible and Fv-2-resistant (sf-Stk null) mice to form Epo-independent colonies. Mutational analysis of sf-Stk indicated that a functional kinase domain and 8 of its 12 tyrosine residues are required for the induction of Epo-independent colonies. Further studies demonstrated that coexpression of SFFV gp55 with sf-Stk significantly extends the half-life of the kinase. When injected into Fv-2-resistant mice, neither the gp55-activated sf-Stk nor the constitutively activated mutant caused erythroleukemia. Surprisingly, both Fv-2-susceptible and -resistant mice injected with the gp55-sf-Stk vector developed clinical signs not previously associated with SFFV-induced disease. We conclude that sf-Stk, activated by either point mutation or interaction with SFFV gp55, is sufficient to induce Epo-independent erythroid colonies from both Fv-2-susceptible and -resistant mice but is unable to cause erythroleukemia in Fv-2-resistant mice.

Topics: Animals; Cell Line; Erythroid Cells; Erythropoietin; Genetic Vectors; Leukemia, Erythroblastic, Acute; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Point Mutation; Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; Retroviridae Infections; Spleen Focus-Forming Viruses; Tumor Virus Infections; Viral Envelope Proteins

Erythropoietin (EPO) and its cell surface receptor (EPOR) play a central role in proliferation, differentiation, and survival of erythroid progenitors. Signals induced by EPO have been studied extensively by using erythroid as well as nonerythroid cell lines, and various controversial results have been reported as to the role of signaling molecules in erythroid differentiation. Here we describe a novel approach to analyze the EPO signaling by using primary mouse fetal liver hematopoietic cells to avoid possible artifacts due to established cell lines. Our strategy is based on high-titer retrovirus vectors with a bicistronic expression system consisting of an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) and green fluorescent protein (GFP). By placing the cDNA for a signaling molecule in front of IRES-GFP, virus-infected cells can be viably sorted by fluorescence-activated cell sorter, and the effect of expression of the signaling molecule can be assessed. By using this system, expression of cell-survival genes such as Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL was found to enhance erythroid colony formation from colony-forming unit-erythroid (CFU-E) in response to EPO. However, their expression was not sufficient for erythroid colony formation from CFU-E alone, indicating that EPO induces signals for erythroid differentiation. To examine the role of EPOR tyrosine residues in erythroid differentiation, we introduced a chimeric EGFR-EPOR receptor, which has the extracellular domain of the EGF receptor and the intracellular domain of the EPOR, as well as a mutant EGFR-EPOR in which all the cytoplasmic tyrosine residues are replaced with phenylalanine, and found that tyrosine residues of EPOR are essential for erythroid colony formation from CFU-E. We further analyzed the function of the downstream signaling molecules by expressing modified signaling molecules and found that both JAK2/STAT5 and Ras, two major signaling pathways activated by EPOR, are involved in full erythroid differentiation.

Topics: Animals; bcl-X Protein; Cytokines; DNA-Binding Proteins; Erythropoiesis; Erythropoietin; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Genes, bcl-2; Green Fluorescent Proteins; Liver; Luminescent Proteins; Mice; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; Receptors, Erythropoietin; Retroviridae Infections; Signal Transduction

Erythroleukemias induced by Friend Murine Leukemia Virus (F-MuLV) involve the insertional activation of the proto-oncogene Fli-1, and the inactivation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene. While the activation of Fli-1 is an early, primary transforming event, p53 mutations are correlated with the immortalization of erythroleukemic cells in culture. In this study we have further analysed the role of p53 loss in F-MuLV induced erythroleukemias by examining the progression of this disease in p53 deficient mice. We found that p53-/- mice succumb to the disease more rapidly than p53+/+ littermates. Additionally, of the 112 tumors generated, 19 gave rise to immortal cell lines, eight of which were derived from p53-/- mice, and ten of which were from p53+/- mice. The ability of these primary tumor cells to grow in culture was associated with the complete loss of wild-type p53 in these cell lines. However, cells from many of the tumors induced in p53-/- hosts did not survive in vitro. These results suggest that the loss of p53 does not directly immortalize tumor cells. Instead, we have evidence to suggest that the loss of p53 promotes the accumulation of mutations that are required for survival in culture and that are capable of accelerating tumor progression in vivo. Indeed, mutations causing expression of the growth factor gene erythropoietin (Epo), were detected in two of seven Epo-independent cell lines from p53 deficient primary erythroleukemias. Moreover, the mechanism of activation of the Epo gene in one of these two Epo-independent cell lines involved genomic rearrangement, that is a hallmark of genetic instability. We propose that, in F-MuLV induced-erythroleukemias, p53 loss may encourage the accumulation of further mutations, subsequently conferring a growth advantage and immortality to the transformed erythroblasts.

Topics: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Blood Proteins; Cell Division; Cellular Senescence; Disease Progression; DNA-Binding Proteins; Erythroid Precursor Cells; Erythropoietin; Female; Friend murine leukemia virus; Gene Deletion; Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic; Genes, p53; Leukemia, Erythroblastic, Acute; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Knockout; Mutagenesis; Neoplasm Proteins; Neoplasm Transplantation; Proto-Oncogene Protein c-fli-1; Proto-Oncogene Proteins; Retroviridae Infections; Trans-Activators; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; Tumor Virus Infections

Friend leukemia virus complex (FLV) consists of replication-defective, Friend spleen focus-forming virus (F-SFFV) and replication-competent, Friend murine leukemia virus (F-MuLV). We produced transgenic mice possessing F-SFFV gp55 gene and clarified that the gp55 glycoprotein encoded by F-SFFV env-related gene is, by itself, responsible for the initiation of erythroleukemia. The occurrence of erythroleukemia, however, is sporadic in these mice. Erythroleukemia cell lines established from these mice possessed mutations in the p53 allele. One had a temperature-sensitive mutant p53 allele, p53Val-135 and showed induction of apoptosis by expressing a wild-type p53 protein at 32 degrees C. Superinfection of the mice with Moloney murine leukemia virus (Mo-MuLV) conferred 100% induction of erythroleukemia, mutating p53 gene or activating Spfi-1 gene by insertional events. Activation of the JAK/STAT pathway, which is involved in cytokine signaling, was investigated in the gp55 signaling mediated by the erythropoietin receptor. JAK1 and STAT5 were constitutively tyrosine-phosphorylated but the DNA binding activity of STAT5 was not induced.

Topics: Animals; Cell Line; Cytokines; DNA-Binding Proteins; Erythropoietin; Exons; Friend murine leukemia virus; Genes, env; Janus Kinase 1; Leukemia, Erythroblastic, Acute; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Milk Proteins; Moloney murine leukemia virus; Mutation; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; Receptors, Erythropoietin; Retroviridae Infections; Signal Transduction; Spleen Focus-Forming Viruses; STAT4 Transcription Factor; STAT5 Transcription Factor; Trans-Activators; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; Tumor Virus Infections