Simian virus 40 DNA replication correlates with expression of a particular subclass of T antigen in a human glial cell line

Emergent human pathogen simian virus 40 and its role in cancer

The polyomavirus simian virus 40 (SV40) is a known oncogenic DNA virus which induces primary brain and bone cancers, malignant mesothelioma, and lymphomas in laboratory animals. Persuasive evidence now indicates that SV40 is causing infections in humans today and represents an emerging pathogen. A meta-analysis of molecular, pathological, and clinical data from 1,793 cancer patients indicates that there is a significant excess risk of SV40 associated with human primary brain cancers, primary bone cancers, malignant mesothelioma, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Experimental data strongly suggest that SV40 may be functionally important in the development of some of those human malignancies. Therefore, the major types of tumors induced by SV40 in laboratory animals are the same as those human malignancies found to contain SV40 markers. The Institute of Medicine recently concluded that "the biological evidence is of moderate strength that SV40 exposure could lead to cancer in humans under natural conditions." This review analyzes the accumulating data that indicate that SV40 is a pathogen which has a possible etiologic role in human malignancies. Future research directions are considered.

Cell and molecular biology of simian virus 40: implications for human infections and disease

Simian virus 40 (SV40), a polyomavirus of rhesus macaque origin, was discovered in 1960 as a contaminant of polio vaccines that were distributed to millions of people from 1955 through early 1963. SV40 is a potent DNA tumor virus that induces tumors in rodents and transforms many types of cells in culture, including those of human origin. This virus has been a favored laboratory model for mechanistic studies of molecular processes in eukaryotic cells and of cellular transformation. The viral replication protein, named large T antigen (T-ag), is also the viral oncoprotein. There is a single serotype of SV40, but multiple strains of virus exist that are distinguishable by nucleotide differences in the regulatory region of the viral genome and in the part of the T-ag gene that encodes the protein's carboxyl terminus. Natural infections in monkeys by SV40 are usually benign but may become pathogenic in immunocompromised animals, and multiple tissues can be infected. SV40 can replicate in certain types of simian and human cells. SV40-neutralizing antibodies have been detected in individuals not exposed to contaminated polio vaccines. SV40 DNA has been identified in some normal human tissues, and there are accumulating reports of detection of SV40 DNA and/or T-ag in a variety of human tumors. This review presents aspects of replication and cell transformation by SV40 and considers their implications for human infections and disease pathogenesis by the virus. Critical assessment of virologic and epidemiologic data suggests a probable causative role for SV40 in certain human cancers, but additional studies are necessary to prove etiology.

Relationship between expression of epidermal growth factor and simian virus 40 T antigen in a line of transgenic mice

The pattern of expression of the simian virus 40 (SV40) T antigen gene and resultant dysplasia were re-examined in a line of transgenic mice in which the T antigen gene was under the control of the SV40 early promoter. We found that T antigen expression in the kidney, and resulting dysplastic lesions, occurred exclusively in the distal convoluted tubules and the ascending limbs of Henle. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) expression in the kidney of normal mice was similarly immunolocalized. The correlation between high EGF immunoreactivity in normal mouse tissues and T antigen expression in the transgenic counterpart was also seen in the choroid plexus epithelium and in the submandibular glands of male mice. T antigen was not found in the submandibular gland of transgenic females. Similarly, EGF was only rarely detected in the normal female submandibular gland. In contrast to the correlation between T antigen expression in the transgenic mice and EGF expression in the corresponding tissues of the normal mice, within the dysplastic lesions of the transgenic mice EGF expression was severely diminished. Adenocarcinomas of the male submandibular gland from another line of transgenic mice that expresses the Int-1 transgene, showed similarly reduced levels of immunostaining for EGF. Thus, reduced expression of EGF might be a general feature of dysplasia and tumorigenesis in those tissues that normally express EGF.

The evolution of small DNA viruses of eukaryotes: past and present considerations

Historically, viral evolution has often been considered from the perspective of the ability of the virus to maintain viral pathogenic fitness by causing disease. A predator-prey model has been successfully applied to explain genetically variable quasi-species of viruses, such as influenza virus and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which evolve much faster rates than the host. In contrast, small DNA viruses (polyomaviruses, papillomaviruses, and parvoviruses) are species specific but are stable genetically, and appear to have co-evolved with their host species. Genetic stability is attributable primarily to the ability to establish and maintain a benign persistent state in vivo and not to the host DNA proofreading mechanisms. The persistent state often involves a cell cycle-regulated episomal state and a tight linkage of DNA amplification mechanisms to cellular differentiation. This linkage requires conserved features among viral regulatory proteins, with characteristic host-interactive domains needed to recruit and utilize host machinery, thus imposing mechanistic constrains on possible evolutionary options. Sequence similarities within these domains are seen amongst all small mammalian DNA viruses and most of the parvo-like viruses, including those that span the entire spectrum of evolution of organisms from E. coli to humans that replicate via a rolling circle-like mechanism among the entire spectrum of organisms throughout evolution from E. coli to humans. To achieve benign inapparent viral persistence, small DNA viruses are proposed to circumvent the host acute phase reaction (characterized by minimal inflammation) by mechanisms that are evolutionarily adapted to the immune system and the related cytokine communication networks. A striking example of this is the relationship of hymenoptera to polydnaviruses, in which the crucial to the recognition of self, development, and maintenance of genetic identity of both the host and virus. These observations in aggregate suggest that viral replicons are not recent "escapies" of host replication, but rather provide relentless pressure in driving the evolution of the host through cospeciation.

Host range analysis of a chimeric simian virus 40 genome containing the BKV capsid genes

Simian virus 40 (SV40) propagates poorly in cells from human embryonic kidney (HEK) and human fetal fibroblasts (HFF) while BK virus grows well in many human cell types. It has been suggested that sequences within the SV40 late region but not within the BKV late region may act to inhibit growth of virus in HEK and HFF cells. In order to test this and to identify a late region host range function, we have replaced the late region of wtSV40 DNA with the late region of RFV (a variant of BKV) to produce an intermolecular hybrid or chimera. The constructed SV40/RFV chimeric genome contained approx. 5900 base pairs, more than 650 base pairs greater than wtSV40. Nevertheless, when introduced by transfection the chimera appeared to be infectious. Three chimeric genomes were recovered from infected cells and all contained deletions of nearly 600 base pairs, exclusively at the region of the 3' terminal junction. Since all three chimeras propagated in human HFF and HEK cells, the RFV late region and not the RFV regulatory region possesses a host range function required for growth in human cells. Analysis of T-antigen gene expression suggests that the replacement of the SV40 late region with the BKV late region leads to full expression of the SV40 early region in human cells. Two chimeras exhibited a BKV-like host range and the third exhibited both a BKV and an SV40-like host range. We determined precisely which sequences were deleted in each chimera and we exchanged 3' terminal junction fragments containing these deletions, between two chimeras with different host ranges. From these experiments we demonstrated that: (1) The 3' terminus of the SV40 large T-antigen gene is required for growth of SV40/RFV in TC-7 and CV-1 simian cells but not for growth in human cells; (2) while the SV40 late region is refractory for growth in human cells, the RFV late region is not refractory for growth in simian cells; (3) the 3' terminus of the RFV T-antigen gene is not required for growth in human cells. The results of the 3' terminal junction exchanges and studies of early gene expression also demonstrate that BKV and SV40 can penetrate human and simian cells, even when they failed to grow in one cell type.

Extension of lifespan of human T lymphocytes by transfection with SV40 large T antigen

Lymphocytes have a finite and predictable proliferative life span in culture similar to that observed in fibroblasts. In general, the senescence of human fibroblasts is inevitable and irreversible, but their proliferative life span can be extended by certain DNA tumor virus oncogenes, such as the large T antigen of the SV40 virus. Here, we show that human T lymphocytes (HTL) can be stably transfected with SV40 large T and that expression of T antigen extended the life span of T cell cultures. PHA-stimulated HTL were transfected with pSV3neo, an expression vector containing the SV40 early region and the neomycin resistance gene. Transfectants were selected for neomycin (G418) resistance. Control HTL, either mock transfected or transfected with pSV2neo (containing the neomycin resistance gene only), ceased proliferation after about 17 population doublings. In contrast, HTL transfected with pSV3neo underwent more than 170 doublings. pSV3neo-transfected cells expressed SV40 large T RNA, detectable by in situ hybridization, and SV40 T antigen, detectable by immunofluorescence. Greater than 95% of the transfected cells were CD4 positive. These results clearly show that SV40 large T enables HTL to escape senescence. Transfection with SV40 large T may be a valuable method for obtaining long term human T cell lines for studies of both aging and immunology.

Simian virus 40 large T antigen stably complexes with a 185-kilodalton host protein

Stable interactions between simian virus 40 large T antigen and host proteins are believed to play a major role in the ability of the viral protein to transform cells in culture and induce tumors in vivo. Two of these host proteins, the retinoblastoma susceptibility protein (pRB) and p53, are products of tumor suppressor genes, suggesting that T antigen exerts at least a portion of its transforming activity by complexing with and inactivating the function of these proteins. While analyzing T antigen-host protein complexes in mouse cells, we noted a protein of 185 kDa (p185) which specifically coimmunoprecipitates with T antigen. Coimmunoprecipitation results from the formation of stable complexes between T antigen and p185. Complex formation is independent of the interactions of T antigen with pRB, p120, and p53. Furthermore, analysis of T-antigen mutants suggests that T antigen-p185 complex formation may be important in transformation by simian virus 40.