Abstract
Malignant transformation by mammalian RNA sarcoma viruses has previously been shown to involve a reduction in receptor sites for a well characterized 6,000-molecular weight (MW) growth-promoting substance, designated epidermal growth factor (EGF)1–3. Although Abelson murine leukaemia virus (AbLV) resembles sarcoma viruses in its ability to transform embryo fibroblasts in cell culture4, AbLV induces a rapid B-cell lymphoid leukaemia rather than fibrosarcomas in vivo5,6. The major translational product of AbLV is a highly phosphorylated polyprotein7,8 of MW 120,000 which exhibits an associated tyrosine-specific protein kinase activity9,10 and probable transforming function11–14. We show here that AbLV transformation resembles transformation by RNA sarcoma viruses with respect to the abolition of EGF-binding sites. EGF binding is restored to control levels following loss of polyprotein expression in morphological revertants of AbLV-transformed clones and remains uninfluenced in cell lines infected with transformation-defective (td) AbLV mutants encoding polyproteins deficient in protein kinase activity. These findings indicate that AbLV transformation involves a polyprotein-associated, tyrosine-specific protein kinase activity which mediates its effect through a mechanism resulting directly or indirectly in the abolition of EGF-binding sites.
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Blomberg, J., Reynolds, F., Van de Ven, W. et al. Abelson murine leukaemia virus transformation involves loss of epidermal growth factor-binding sites. Nature 286, 504–507 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/286504a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/286504a0
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