Infrequent involvement of c-fos in avian leukosis virus-induced nephroblastoma

Avian leukosis virus usurps the cellular SERBP1 protein to enhance its transcription and promote productive infections in avian cells

Avian leukosis virus subgroup K (ALV-K) is composed of newly emerging isolates, which cluster separately from the well-characterized subgroups A, B, C, D, E, and J in sequence analysis, and exhibits a specific host range and a unique pattern of superinfection interference. Avian leukosis virus subgroup K replicate more slowly in avian cells than other ALV strains, leading to escaped detection during ALV eradication, but the underlying mechanism are largely unknown. In our previous study, we have reported that JS11C1 and most of other suspected ALV-K strains possessed unique mutations in the U3 region. Here, we selected 5 mutations in some important transcriptional regulation elements to explore the possible factor contributing for the lower activity of LTR, including CA-TG mutation in the CAAT box, 21 nt deletion in the CAAT box, A-G and A-T mutations in the CArG boxes, 11 nt insertion in the PRE boxes, and C-T mutation in the TATA box. On the basis of infectious clone of JS11C1, we demonstrated that the 11 nt fragment in the PRE boxes was associated with the transcription activity of LTR, the enhancer ability of U3, and the replication capacity of the virus. Notably, we determined the differential U3-protein interaction profile of ALVs and found that the 11 nt fragment specifically binds to cellular SERPINE1 mRNA binding protein 1 (SERBP1) to increase the LTR activity and enhance virus replication. Collectively, these findings reveal that a 11 nt fragment in the U3 gene contributed to its binding ability to the cellular SERBP1 to enhance its transcription and the infectious virus productions in avian cells. This study highlighted the vital role of host factor in retrovirus replication and thus provides a new perspective to elucidate the interaction between retrovirus and its host and a molecular basis to develop efficient strategies against retroviruses.

The twist gene is a common target of retroviral integration and transcriptional deregulation in experimental nephroblastoma

The genes involved in the transformation of kidney blastema cells were searched for in avian nephroblastomas induced by the MAV2 retrovirus. The twist gene was identified as a common site of provirus integration in tumor cells. Twist was rearranged by the MAV2 provirus in three out of 76 independent nephroblastoma samples. The MAV2 integration sites were localized within 40 nucleotides of the twist 5'UTR region, right upstream from the ATG initiation codon. The integrated proviruses were deleted at their 5'ends. As a consequence, twist transcription became controlled by the retroviral 3'LTR promoter and was strongly upregulated, more than 200 times. In addition, 2-100 times elevated twist transcription was also detected in the majority of other nephroblastoma samples not containing MAV2 in the twist locus. We propose that chicken nephroblastoma originates from a single blastemic cell in which the MAV retrovirus, through its integration, has deregulated specific combinations of genes controlling proliferation and differentiation. The activation of the twist gene expression appears to contribute to tumorigenesis, as there is an in vivo positive selection of tumor cell clones containing the twist gene hyperactivated by MAV2 sequences inserted within the twist promoter.

The regional integration of retroviral sequences into the mosaic genomes of mammals

We have reviewed here three sets of data concerning the integration of retroviral sequences in the mammalian genome: (i) our experimental localization of a number of proviruses integrated in isochores characterized by different GC levels; (ii) results from other laboratories on the localization of retroviral sequences in open chromatin regions and/or next to CpG islands; and (iii) our compositional analysis of genes located in the neighborhood of integrated retroviral sequences. The three sets of data have provided a very consistent picture in that a compartmentalized, isopycnic integration of expressed proviruses appears to be the rule ('isopycnic' refers to the compositional match between viral and host sequences around the integration site). The results reviewed here suggest that: (i) integration of proviral sequences is targeted initially towards 'open chromatin regions'; while these exist in both GC-rich and GC-poor isochores, the 'open chromatin regions' of GC-rich isochores are the main targets for integration of retroviral sequences because of their much greater abundance; (ii) isopycnicity is associated with stability of integration; indeed, even non-expressed integrated retroviral sequences tend to show an isopycnic localization in the genome; (iii) transcription of integrated viral sequences (like transcription of host genes) appears to be associated, as a rule, with an isopycnic localization, as indicated by transcribed sequences that show an isopycnic integration and act in trans; (iv) selection plays a role in the choice of specific sites within an isopycnic region; in exceptional cases [such as mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) activating GC-rich oncogenes], selection may override isopycnicity.

Proviral rearrangements and overexpression of a new cellular gene (nov) in myeloblastosis-associated virus type 1-induced nephroblastomas

Histological and anatomopathological studies performed on 152 independent myeloblastosis-associated virus type 1 (MAV1)-induced nephroblastomas allowed us to precisely define the chronology of tumor development in chickens. Three tumors representing increasing developmental stages were used to construct genomic libraries and to study both the state of proviral genomes and the sites of MAV1 integration in genomic DNA. We established that increasing levels of proviral rearrangement, eventually leading to the elimination of infectious MAV genomes, were associated with tumor progression and that 22 individual tumors, representative of different developmental stages, did not contain any common MAV1 integration site. Cloning of cellular fragments flanking the MAV1-related proviruses in tumor DNA showed that each one of eight nephroblastomas tested expressed a high level of an as yet unidentified cellular gene (nov) whose transcription is normally arrested in adult kidney cells. Cloning of the normal nov gene established that in one tumor, fused long terminal repeat-truncated nov mRNA species were expressed, indicating that at least in that case, the high level of nov expression was under the control of the MAV long terminal repeat promoter. The normal nov gene encodes a putative 32-kDa secreted polypeptide, which is a member of a new family of proteins likely to be involved in cell growth regulation. We also showed that the expression of an amino-terminal-truncated nov product in chicken embryo fibroblasts was sufficient to induce their transformation.

Proviral rearrangements and overexpression of a new cellular gene (nov) in myeloblastosis-associated virus type 1-induced nephroblastomas

Histological and anatomopathological studies performed on 152 independent myeloblastosis-associated virus type 1 (MAV1)-induced nephroblastomas allowed us to precisely define the chronology of tumor development in chickens. Three tumors representing increasing developmental stages were used to construct genomic libraries and to study both the state of proviral genomes and the sites of MAV1 integration in genomic DNA. We established that increasing levels of proviral rearrangement, eventually leading to the elimination of infectious MAV genomes, were associated with tumor progression and that 22 individual tumors, representative of different developmental stages, did not contain any common MAV1 integration site. Cloning of cellular fragments flanking the MAV1-related proviruses in tumor DNA showed that each one of eight nephroblastomas tested expressed a high level of an as yet unidentified cellular gene (nov) whose transcription is normally arrested in adult kidney cells. Cloning of the normal nov gene established that in one tumor, fused long terminal repeat-truncated nov mRNA species were expressed, indicating that at least in that case, the high level of nov expression was under the control of the MAV long terminal repeat promoter. The normal nov gene encodes a putative 32-kDa secreted polypeptide, which is a member of a new family of proteins likely to be involved in cell growth regulation. We also showed that the expression of an amino-terminal-truncated nov product in chicken embryo fibroblasts was sufficient to induce their transformation.